Never Discuss Politics
I've been a bad, bad blogger. A week has gone by without a post from me. Outside of the Countdown to Grad School To Do list which is occupying much of my time and the summer sunshine beckoning outside, all the post ideas I've had lately are political in nature and Scott always warns me not to do political posts "it polarizes people". But then he's a nice mid-western boy who doesn't like to make waves and...well...I'm not.
I had to resist the urge to write a post about my shock and disappointment over Obama aligning himself with the right on four separate issues--all in one week! I wondered who this man was that Republicans claim has "the most liberal voting record" in the Senate. That frustration resulted in a group email to my family. We're all fierce liberals (and Obama supporters) so I thought they might either try to help me understand it or empathize with my feelings. Besides, we often do this in my family--the emails have been flying back and forth since Primary season began. Anyway, a NY Times op-ed piece by Gail Collins helped me understand where Obama was coming from and at least validated my feelings of confusion and disappointment as it was the number one most emailed item of the day that day, indicating that many other people out there share my feelings.
And this week's hot topic is that stupid New Yorker magazine cover. Honestly, I get the satire, but I think it was in very poor taste and only fans the flames of the right wing lunacy. As my sister Janet stated in her family group email "What's insane is that we have to battle our own team of liberals--this is an easy win for us finally and now we have dopes on our own team causing headaches." Further illustrating the New Yorker's failed attempt at satire, my brother Peter added "If you need to explain your joke, it usually is not funny." Here, here!
Finally, the thing that really drives me nuts in the mainstream media is the time wasted on stories like the New Yorker flap or politicizing the most ridiculous things imaginable. For example, I heard a story on the news the other day hypothesizing who animals would vote for in the presidential election if they could. Supposedly they would vote for McCain because he owns a whole gaggle of pets while Obama owns none. So guess what I got today? An email from an animal-loving friend requesting that I sign an online petition to urge Senator Obama to adopt a homeless dog. (Hi, Traci!) Frankly, I think Obama would make a lousy pet owner considering his grueling campaign schedule and what will hopefully be a grueling presidential schedule but I'm sure his girls would love it. Anyway, I signed the petition because I love Traci.
I can't wait for this election to be over!
posted by Michael @ 2:43 PM
5 Comments:
What a great family you have.
I share your feelings on a few accounts - let's get this election over with, and what is Obama doing?!? I'll bookmark that op-ed piece and hope it helps make sense of it for me, too.
Lastly - great to hear from you again!
Just so the animals will cast their votes correctly and not vote to continue to send our nation on a downward spiral, there's good news afoot. The Obama's plan to get a dog (I certainly hope they adopt a homeless dog, but I'm sure someone will give them one)as soon as the election is over. His girls seemed thrilled about it on their famous TV interview on the 4th of July. There, that ought to win him the canine vote.
The media sure are great at distracting people from their meager coverage of real issues.
Try this on for size:
http://pentdego.com/prentjes/a8877f.jpg
Taken from:
http://pentdego.com/obama.aspx
Please don't take this personally, but did all those people not realise Obama was a politician?
Or perhaps it's because I come from a country where compromise is the ONLY way anything gets into government. Proportional representation ensures that you need a 'governing agreement' - an amalgam of the participating parties' platforms - between a minimum of two parties.
Post a Comment
<< Home