Or don't Really, it's your vote, do as you will. As usual, the election has got me all twisted up inside.
I seem to be in the small minority of people alive, at least n Seattle, that isn't super excited about Barack Obama. I'm beginning to think that I'm probably slated to play goon #3 in the grand epic that is the history of the world. Popular movements make me nervous, whether it be 'Love Tarantino!' (I liked Reservoir Dogs...and that's about it.), 'Love the Beatles!' (I can sing the entire White Album for karaoke, and keep in mind that I've ever pushed 'play' on a Beatles song, on none of their albums, and kind of find their music a little dull...) or even 'Get Married and Have Kids!' (Thankfully, my brother did both, so the grandparents are happy and some art of my genetic code lives on. For me, I'm thinking an old age of world travel seeing the sights of human history will do just fine, thank you. (Though, like everything else, this could change. Very few things in my life are carved in stone.))
I really kind of envy the people who are hole heartedly behind Obama, kind of like the way I've always been envious of people who drink booze. It looks like such fun, everyone is together, there's a commonality to it that's really appealing. But there is this thing holding me back. It's hard to describe. Fear? Maybe a little bit, of losing myself in something greater. I've always been an individual, but not the kind that is cool and draws people. More of the quiet, not really interesting on mysterious kind.
Maybe it's stubbornness. I've definitely got that streak in me. I need to come to things on my on terms, for better or worse. I'm a slow starter, and once I get going it's in fits and starts (that's kind of a weird sentence. Two starts...) Bu there is a quiet, non heroic resilience. Get knocked down seven times, get up eight, though maybe after your opponent has left the ring. My spirit animal would be the cow, typified by the obstacle defeating 'lean' maneuver.
Distrust of messiahs? Yes, I know he doesn't portray himself as such, but a lot of people have the opinion that one pull of a lever will transform us into something better. Yet, in the end, the system is the system because we made it that way, It's the glorious and horrible thing about a functioning democracy.
Weirdly enough, coming from a Republican background, I'd prefer Hillary as President. Her ideas actually make a lot of sense, and I kind of like her mean streak. I also see her sending Bill off to the world's most dangerous hot spots or else as the ambassador somewhere nasty. High comedy.
In the end, I'll vote for the villain, the black cloaked John McCain. I liked him in 2000, and I like him more now. Any man that will stand up in front of a group of laid off auto-workers in Michigan and tell them that their former jobs aren't coming back, who has been vilified and booed by his on party for taking moral stands on issues that he believes in (that I don't find crazy) has basically sold me. Do I like everything he stands for? No. I still wish and hope he party drops the social conservatism idea, and gets a clue on immigration (the country will not function without them, so let's make some accommodation.) I don't like his defense of the 2nd amendment.
But really, in the end, it comes down to Iraq for me. I agree that we shouldn't have gone in in the first place (though I was for it at the time)and that it was poorly run until the last year, but to pull out now as quickly as the dems are proposing would be a disaster, and I don't mean for the US. I firmly believe that Iraq would slide fully into civil war. We disbanded any means they have of fighting Al Qaeda themselves, and Iran and Syria will be sure to meddle to their own benefit. To paraphrase the Pottery Barn by way of Colin Powell,: "We broke it, we bought it."
(cue the imperial march end credits)
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