Don't Kill Me For The Cliché- God Bless The USA!

Instead of pulling the usual angsty teenager bit about friends, family, school, etc., I'd like to focus my innate teenage-brooding powers on the demise of public appreciation for our political system.

On November 4, 2008, the first non-white president in the United States transcended an election to take his place in the history books. While some view this as more substantial than others, we must look to it as a sign of significant progress for Americans. Now, I do not agree with Barack Obama's politics, nor do I care for his speaking style; the man is brilliant, sophisticated and unbelievably persuasive, but I've consistently found myself a bit put off by his seemingly pretentious diction. Despite this, I respect what he has done; shattering apparent race and age barriers, the 47-year-old wonder blasted through any and all opposition, defying early skepticism to sweep the electoral votes and claim the place he considered rightfully his.

So, in the United States of America, a nation whose hypocritical racial tendencies have garnered unwanted international attention for generations, a black man has been elected president.

And there's nothing.

No riots.

No mass protests.

No assassination attempts.

Just generally calm acceptance of an American tradition.

And that is probably the best part of this whole affair. I was never going to be too pleased no matter who won, but the fact that an African-American beat out the living embodiment of electoral tradition astounds me. In, of course, a good way.

I started off my morning with a lecture from a liberal teacher about how amazing we should find John McCain for so graciously bowing out after the election announcement. The sheer impressiveness of his speech moved her to tears, as she repeatedly warned us not to take our system of peacefully passing power for granted. Yet even as we exited the room, her pleas to treat this day as extraordinarily as it was instead of just puttering about as usual still ringing in our ears, we began to acclimate and forget that which had captivated us for months previous.

And, complementing the great strides made evident by a lack of anger, the lack of appreciation is probably the worst part of this whole affair.

There's popular talk, most of it facetious in nature, that some radical will assassinate Obama and then the whole country goes to hell. Usually such comments are met with either disapproval or amusement, then promptly forgotten.

But what if the whisper of assassination were a legitimate fear present in the minds of all citizens?

What if we as a society collectively grimaced at the prospect of such a radical new leader assuming power, not out of prejudice, but because we knew what violence would surely ensue?

Basically, what if we lived in one of a number of countries that is not the United States of
America?

Here most of us are stumped. It's inexpressibly difficult for most of us to even imagine living as citizens suffering under a truly oppressive, tyrannical government. We disregard how lucky we are to have been born under the star-spangled banner, choosing to focus on every slight failing in the state. Yet even with our flawed system, we possess more freedoms than billions of other people, and for that, we should be willing to negotiate with whoever the president-elect is.

Right now, that person emerged as Barack Obama. So, if you've been a longtime supporter, stick with him. If you're not much of a fan, grin and bear it.

Because, depressing thought as it is, things could always be worse.

Sure, some people call Obama a socialist, and I think McCain bears a striking resemblance to Chancellor/Emperor Palpatine(yes, I'm quite proud of the Star Wars reference). But no matter what their personal leanings may be, America ensures the inherent impossibility of any true dominance by an individual(although the Democratic Triumvirate, as I've dubbed Barack Obama, Nancy Pelosi, and Harry Reid, may be cause for concern). In 2012, if necessary, we can change directions once again, so I can deal with Obama being president.

Can you?

And Then There Were Two...

Barack Obama and Joe Biden are officially "The Dudes."
Wonderful intro, I know.

Throughout what has seemed like a million months of campaigning, we've seen Republicans and Democrats squashed by competition within their respective parties before John McCain and Barack Obama emerged as the main contenders for Commander-in-Chief. Then we had another waiting period, with plenty of speculation regarding the VP picks. I personally hoped for Romney and Jim Webb, but, surprisingly, we saw Palin and Biden tapped instead. Obama clearly made the wiser choice, as Biden's maturity, experience and traditional image balanced him out well. McCain seemed to have gone a similar route when selecting his running mate, but his choice... eh, not so great.

Sarah Palin burst on the scene as an attractive, well-spoken soccer-mom-turned-master-politician, showcasing her talent as an orator easily. After hearing her RNC speech, many, myself included, were swept up in the inexplicable hype surrounding Sarah Palin(although, yes, she was also groundbreaking for Republicans as the first woman on a presidential ticket). Then we stopped simply hearing and began to really listen, and a lot of her former admirers realized she wasn't really saying anything.

A couple of nice examples are:
-when asked to name a Supreme Court decision she disagreed with, Palin couldn't, even though the Supreme Court had ruled against her and Alaska in favor of Exxon-Mobil.
-when asked to name an American magazine, she couldn't, though she appeared on the covers of two major magazines just that week.

Incidents like this, allegations of her lack of experience and close examination of her integrity drastically damaged Palin's public image, though her charisma continued to draw enthusiastic crowds. Overall, though, it seemed that Palin's selection was nothing more than a cheap trick to get more people interested in the GOP, negatively impacting McCain's pubilc persona.

Moving back to Obama for a moment, excepting for a primary comment about Obama's lack of experience, he and Joe Biden presented a unified, balanced front, winning supporters, and, more importantly, keeping them, undoubtedly aiding in the win against John McCain.

Ergo, Barack Obama and Joe Biden are officially "The Dudes."

So Sorry, Senator...

...maybe next time?

Two senators faced off in an epic struggle for the presidency this year, and while we all love to talk about Barack Obama winning, I would also like to discuss John McCain's loss.

Now, I seek not to gloat, as I see no cause for celebration in the Obama choice, but rather to examine the situation. First, I will cover why I'm sort of happy McCain lost.

After a quarter of a century of service in the US Congress, one would expect to be overwhelmed with arguments of McCain's prestige and extreme helpfulness in all important matters, sometimes ignoring the party lines, but traditionally sticking to his guns and his conservative morals. Instead, we are presented with a man of (relatively) generally little merit as a politician. (To reiterate, I'm currently referencing what we are shown of McCain and Obama, as face value is where most people stop caring.) In contrast, Obama appears a sensational younger man, ready to shake things up. Even so, you would think McCain could win the experience point on sheer virtue that he's been around longer, yet he became so bogged down in proving his running mate's qualifications that he forgot to talk about how great he is. This, in addition to the choice of Sarah Palin in the first place, was an egregious error.

Then we can examine what we are told of McCain's voting record- the now (in?)famous "maverick" appeal. To me, that whole business seems completely ludicrous. Many chastised Mitt Romney as a flip-flopper for changing his mind on issues and voting against his party. Yet John McCain's inconsistencies were "cleverly" disguised by his maverick facade, and were rarely questioned. This mockery of the American people peeved me even more than Obama's perceived arrogance, as most people accepted the ridiculous notion that voting any which way is indicative of brilliance, not indecisiveness.

Another reason for my pleasure in McCain's loss has to be his method of campaigning. His constant attacks on Obama through his advertisements reeked of desperation, while Obama took advantage by taking the high road, and focusing on his own plans. For that, I salute the senator from Illinois, as he projected his message(whatever that was) more effectively than Senator McCain.

Now, to switch gears, I think I'll discuss why I kind of wish McCain had won... don't worry, this will undoubtedly be shorter than the first bit.

To me, McCain seemed like the best of the four to lead the nation. I think Obama could be a wonderful VP, but, as was said, he has yet to really prove his capabilities on the scale demanded by the presidency. I also have this issue with Palin, but I think I'll discuss the tickets in another post. So, McCain seemed most prepared to be the big dog- then he relied upon the most sophomoric tactics imaginable to ensnare votes(really, the celebrity commercial?), then he seemed to miss every opportunity to really elevate himself above Obama in the debates(though his antics were amusing), and then he just kept doing things badly. And then there's the fact that he picked Sarah Palin, but, again, another post.

John McCain seemed like the best possible president out of the lot, but his horrid "strategy" ultimated discounted him as a decent choice as well. His image never seemed to impact people like Obama's did, meaning that people frantically seeking change didn't bother giving him a chance.

While we should all respect his service and tireless dedication to America, John McCain just is not presidential material.

But hey, who knows? If the old boy's still navigating the political arena in 2012, maybe we can have some fun yet.