Political mutterings sure to annoy many

[tenaya]

I feel the last seven years has brought my country to its knees in many ways--I'll spare you the details as they are too numerous to list.

One of the things that brought me to despair in 2004 was people reelecting Bush because they believed in the man mostly because he mouthed a fundy pov, nevermind how immoral he turned out to be (again, too numerous to list.)

This election, I've been good. I've been watching most of the debates (some slipped by without me hearing about them.) I feel informed.

I felt Obama and Clinton weren't too different in their goals at first. I was impressed with how thoroughly she understood complex issues and I did see him make some misjudgments due to inexperience. His flaw seems to be not wanting to compromise. Imho, I think Clinton is more up to the job.

For the details:
Here's a news flash: politics is compromise--that's what going to DC means. We need someone in there who can put their knees on the necks of the republicans and make them compromise and get this country back on track. Giving a rousing speech on cooperation will just allow them to handicap all efforts to go in a direction the Republicans REALLY don't want to go in. They have no problems ignoring people (see the last seven years for further details.)

In the last month, I've seen an increase in propaganda by the Obama camp. In that big football stadium rally that took place before the South Carolina primary, I was shocked to hear both Obama and Oprah using the same speech patterns and cadence that MLK used, thereby tapping into the good feelings people had about MLK and co opting them as their own. His campaign got a huge burst of enthusiasm at that point--I wonder why?

Now all I hear in the Obama commercials are the words change and hope. Without putting forth any messy details that individuals might disagree with, he just lets us supply what we want changed, what we hope for. This is pure emotionalism.

He's the darling of the college crowd but when I hear them talk about what he'll do, it's all vagueness and repetition of the words hope, change and character; they've bought the package and can't be bothered to check the ingredients. He is a charismatic speaker and people say this race is about character now. Well, four years ago people voted for character instead of competence and look at where that got us.

Now the democrats are making the same mistake. Vote for Obama because he's nicer than Clinton; he'll ask the Republicans to cooperate and they will because who could possibly deny such a reasonable request? He will make our dreams come true with an ethereal ease.

If you know history, you know how this turns out. Inexperience equals stalemate in DC; it's happened in the past (check out Carter's term.) My dream is that Clinton gets in there and cleans up this mess. That Obama is the VP and he spends her term(s) learning how to get things done and then HE gets to be President and is totally effective and fantastic. What I don't want to see is four years of him being outmaneuvered because he is inexperienced...[edited]

I just want people to hire the best person for the job, not anoint the second coming. People say Clinton is a bitch. We know bitch is a code word for a strong woman. The people that accuse her of being a bitch tend to believe two things: 1) what she wants to do is what they REALLY don't want to have happen and 2) women need to be nice and nurturing--they have no place in running the country.

For the record, the types of propaganda they are employing are Band wagoning, glittering generalities, intentional vagueness and transfer. I've left out all the other types that both sides employ. As for Clinton, she does a lot of spinning and some folks say she plays dirty behind the scenes. Of course, they've accused the Clintons of that for years and for years I believed it because it was common knowledge. Well, I'm tired of being manipulated. I've not actually heard what they've done so it could just be a lot of mud-slinging. And of course, I'm to the point of, if playing dirty behind the scenes gets things done, well, ain't that just too damn bad.

Comments

[geminia905.livejournal.com]

At this point, I'm sick of the whole damn political game, period.

I'm just glad Romney has dropped out and I'm hoping Huckabee is far enough behind to eliminate him from the race. Those are the two I've been most worried about winning, because I think they'd be even worse than the Shrub -- something I once thought to be impossible.

As for Obama, I don't know what he would or wouldn't do -- quite honestly, I don't believe any politician saying what they'll do because if Congress doesn't agree, it's not going to get done anyway! However, I like the fact he's been able to work on bipartisan issues, which is a big deal to me.

I'm sick to death of partisanship on both sides of the fence -- I think liberals are just as bad as conservatives these days. Both sides seem to only be working to destroy each other and taking the country down in the process.

Obama and McCain are the only two candidates who've shown any capacity for making bipartisan efforts.

If Clinton wins the Democratic nomination and McCain wins the Republican, I will be voting Republican for the first time in 10+ years. Not that it makes any difference really, since Evan Bayh opted not to run, there's no way a Democrat will win this state.

[tenaya.livejournal.com]

First, I'm a registered Republican but that's never stopped me from voting for who I want. You know, I never voted for Bill Clinton, and I thought he'd be horrible but after he was out of office, I had to admit the country did well under him. BTW, I voted for Perot. *g*

I'm not naive enough to think any politician will honor all their promises and if McCain does win he office, I'm hoping a democratic congress will hobble any further war plans he has.

I'm in California. We have a governor who ran on change. He got in office, and so totally bullied and disrespected the Democrats that he totally deserved the public humiliation he finally got. And now? He says he was naive about the problems and he was wrong, that the things he was trying to do was impossible. Maybe that's the straw that broke the camel's back for me, made me extremely sensitive to charismatic people who preach change. I want details. People are so willing to buy a bill of goods if it is what they want to hear. What they need to hear. This country knows that if things don't change, there will be terrible times ahead. Of course we want change.

It's just Obama is being way too slick with the propaganda and has set off my radar. I didn't expect that from him and I liked him more before he started in with this.

[geminia905.livejournal.com]

I'm a registered Democrat, but the only time I've ever voted straight ticket was when the Republican hypocrites in Congress tried to impeach Clinton. I was so disgusted, I refused to give any Republicans a vote -- and I never voted for Clinton, either. *g* I do think he did a good job, though, and in 2000 when all the election shit was dragging out, I wanted him to stay in office an extra term because I didn't want either Gore or the Shrub. *snort*

I don't know what's happened with Obama. I've liked him since before the election and he's always seemed to be able to keep his head above the political muck. But then, with the way the Clintons have been attacking him, I'm surprised he's waited so long to go on the offensive.

I'd still rather have had Bayh as Presidential candidate with Obama as his VP so he could get some more experience under his belt, but unfortunately as it currently stands, if I want to vote Democrat, it needs to be Obama, because I will NOT vote for Hillary Clinton. *sigh*

[aizjanika.livejournal.com]

I agree with you on this one. I wish I could have said it so eloquently. The primary in my state isn't until May, apparently.

Now all I hear in the Obama commercials are the words change and hope. Without putting forth any messy details that individuals might disagree with, he just lets us supply what we want changed, what we hope for. This is pure emotionalism.

Yes! That's exactly what I was trying to explain to someone, but couldn't explain in a way that anyone else understood.

I loved this post and totally agree with just about all of it.

One of the things that brought me to despair in 2004 was people reelecting Bush because they believed in the man mostly because he mouthed a fundy pov, nevermind how immoral he turned out to be (again, too numerous to list.)

I had many friends who told me that it made them ecstatic to hear him talk about God and Jesus, and they didn't think beyond that. I had friends who truly believe we (humans) can't really affect what's happening on earth, because God is in control, so whoever God wants as president will be president--and who better than someone who talks about God? Or something like that. I'm not trying to ridicule someone's beliefs, but it's just hard for me to understand, I guess, and I found it frustrating.

I was also horrified that I also knew many, many people who disliked Bush, hated what he was doing, didn't support the war or any of his policies, but voted for him anyway because they felt we shouldn't "change horses midstream" or something like that.

I know that people want inspiring leadership, but there has to be some substance, too. I do fear that the other side will be unrelentless in their desire to discredit Clinton once she's in office (if she were to be elected), but she can handle that. *g*

[tenaya.livejournal.com]

"I was also horrified that I also knew many, many people who disliked Bush, hated what he was doing, didn't support the war or any of his policies, but voted for him anyway because they felt we shouldn't "change horses midstream" or something like that."

I can't tell you how many times people said that to me four years ago, that EXACT phrase. It was like they felt they could put their responsibility on the shelf. Very, very frustrating.

Well, I thought I'd get tarred and feathered so I'm relieved to see one person who understands what I'm saying. Thanks. :)

[amalthia]

I like the idea of having an experience politician in office and my vote is still with Clinton. though truly in 8 years with more experience Obama would be more reasonable to me. I'm still flabbergasted that anyone voted for Bush in the first place. The governor of Texas has less power than the lt. governor. Also he said he wanted to run the country like a business but all his business's went bankrupt last I heard. Don't get me wrong if we wanted a country run like a business we should have elected Bill Gates.

At this point I want our country back on track and in democratic hands. Clinton seems like the best choice to me.

[tenaya.livejournal.com]

Well, I think he has bankrupted the country. He's batting a thousand.

Romney was saying he was gonna run the country like a business. I felt he was gonna lay off all the old people, the sick people, and the poor people. I'm so glad he's out of it.