Why it matters

Why it matters

NBC has been running these more obnoxious than words can describe ads about why they cover the presidential campaign as much as they do.  The gist is that it matters therefore they cover it.  While I find the ads repugnant and reminiscent of a John Stewart joke where they showed CNN using real wildfires to promo an interview with an actress from the movie Things we lost in the fire, this year’s contest matters.  It matters for reasons that transcend what color, gender the candidates are.  Seven years ago we put someone into the White House whose experience was less than minimal.  He failed at the several businesses he ran, traded Sammy Sosa and seemed to do very little as governor of Texas.  People who know more than I about the Texas system have said that this position doesn’t have a lot of power.  One area in which they do have some authority is in reviewing death row cases and pardon or commute the sentence of anyone deemed worthy.  Texas executes more people than any other state.  Ok, they are a large state and a viable defense in a murder case is “he needed killin’” but Dubya’s one contribution to the state was to reduce the amount of time the governor spends reviewing such cases to 15 minutes.  It’s only a matter of life and death, whatever.

So we let this guy into 1600 PA Ave and gave him the proverbial keys to the kingdom and hoped for the best.  We didn’t get it.  Unbeknownst to me, and most of the US, Dubya and his dad don’t get along well.  That sucks because a, I thought that at the very least we may not like Dubya but he would lean on dad when things got rough (was not a supporter of Bush 1 but the man is intelligent and has a lot of foreign policy experience) and b, when we were about to invade Iraq the one person on Earth with experience doing that very thing was shut out.  One issue 43 had against 41 was the way he handled Iraq.  So, for reasons only he knows, he surrounded himself with very intelligent people, though most were stuck in a world that didn’t exist anymore – the Cold War days.  Look where we are today.  In a war we cannot end, the dollar and my cat’s poop are worth about the same and the economy is just going to get worse before it gets better.  We are stuck between a rock and hard place with China, who owns most of our country yet isn’t on great terms with human rights.  I can only imagine what will happen this summer when all the tourists and Tibet protesters descend on that country.  Bloodbath comes to mind but can they be that stupid?  Can they?

So back in the States we have a presidential election to deal with.  On the Democratic side we have two people who are basically the same when it comes to their positions on, well, everything.  The difference is one is a white woman with experience and baggage and a black man without those things.  The good news for him is he brings in new voters, the bad news is they don’t always show up to vote.  Her strength, voter wise, is she has the support of older, blue collar workers who have been directly hurt by Dubya.  The good and bad news for both is how a protracted primary will help/hurt the party.  I have always thought a real primary helps strengthen the party but that is only if the debate is about the issues not whose pastor said what and/or what scandals took place 10 years ago.  The title of the Dem primary could be There will be blood.

On the other side of the aisle we have John McCain, a well respected veteran who is known for speaking his mind but while equally important, people seem to be ignoring the fact that he is insane.  I don’t like to think I am ageist but the joke about bombing our enemies (the now saintly Reagan said that while checking his microphone, his exact comments were something like “the bombing of Russia will commence in five minutes) was never funny.  McCain entered an event singing (to the tune of some Beach Boys’ song, I think) “Bomb, bomb, bomb, bomb Iran.”  Not funny.  It’s scary because I don’t think he was kidding.  Worse, the man who has made his experience on the international scene the cornerstone of his campaign got the Sunnis and Shia confused.  A BIG blunder for someone like him.  He claimed al Qaeda is getting training in Iran (from the government). They are not and any al Qaeda that is in Iraq went there AFTER we invaded.

So we have a lot to think about.  Oh and lest you really think this has been a good idea, 97 percent of the American military deaths in Iraq has happened after the infamous “Mission Accomplished” banner incident.  Great.