So now that the general election campaign has finally started I’ve had a hard time following the news. The Democratic race has mentally drained me and probably a lot of voters who had to put up with Hillary and Obama beating each other’s heads in. I have to say it is pretty amazing that this happened though considering George Bush Jr. got reelected I guess anything is possible in politics. Though I said the first time I ever saw Barrack Obama that he would one day be the President of the United States, I was pretty resigned to believing that Hillary would eventually come out on top. I guess I shouldn’t get into trying to predict political stuff since I’m usually wrong, not that anybody in the media knows what they’re doing anyway. The polls, the big impressive charts and graphs, it’s all BS. Anyway here we are, general election woo, the Democrats can work together now right? Right?! Unfortunately one of my political predictions did come true, at least partially. The rift in the Democratic Party that still exists is unacceptable. The tooth-and-nail race that the candidates ran has left grudges in its place, some of which with unimaginable consequences. Hillary Democrats swearing their allegiance to John McCain.
It’s one thing for them to “refuse to vote” due to the loss of their matriarch but it’s another thing to vote for the Republican candidate. And it’s not that they’re doing it because they think he’ll be a better president but rather just to spite Obama for having the audacity to beat Hillary in the primaries.
I know, I know, things like Florida (I fucking hate Florida, they mess up every election they touch. If it were up to me the entire state would be disenfranchised permanently. Sorry Floridians, no offense. Please teach your government how to run an election.) and Michigan delegate woes were a little underhanded though they’re lucky they got counted at all. I also know that I gave McCain a bit of a thumbs up in the past if only because he was better than the other candidates offered by the Republican party. However, since becoming the presumptive nominee, the once independent-style McCain seems to have fallen in line with his party as if they held a gun to his head and told him that if he didn’t act like Bush they’d pull the trigger.
Now let me get this clear right now, I think McCain is smarter than Bush, I think he’s a better man than Bush. I don’t think, however, that McCain’s policy of staying Bush’s course if he gets elected is the right direction for the United States. I also fail to understand how Hillary supporters can look at McCain, look at Obama, and decide that McCain better represents their interests when McCain’s stance on the issues couldn’t be further away from Hillary’s. Let’s not forget than in early Republican debates, McCain was right there with everyone else bashing who they thought they’d be running against, Hillary Clinton, with comments that bordered on school yard bullying and sexism. And this is the man they’d rather vote for than the Democrat whose stances are in all honesty nearly identical to Clinton’s? What's worse is most of Hillary's die-hard supporters are middle class voters who are truly struggling in the current state of the economy yet now they're going to vote for somebody whose view on the economy is to keep it running the same way it has been in the past eight years and expect it to get better? I don't want to make this an issue of race or anything but seriously, sometimes I wonder.
It leads me to only one conclusion. It’s a popularity contest, it’s like “reality TV” more than it is a government election. People weren’t going to vote for Hillary Clinton because they liked what she stood for, they were going to vote for her because they just happened to like her. And just like the immature kids these voters are they’re going to jump ship because I guess they never really gave a damn about what the Democratic Party is trying to accomplish anyway. If they’d rather have a Bush sequel then they can bring it on themselves. I just want to make this plea to these people, if any of them for some strange reason happens upon my blog. Just DON’T VOTE. If you feel neither of the candidates represent you, you have the right and the privilege to not vote. If you’re upset with the party, it doesn’t mean you should support someone whose views are the polar opposite to your own instead just because your candidate lost. Hillary isn’t supporting Barrack Obama because somebody is making her, she’s doing it because it’s what all Democrats should do and she wants her supporters to do the same and even that hasn’t fazed some of them.
I know most of those Democratic voters are in the minority, or at least I hope they are. Though I’ve been a supporter of Barrack Obama from the beginning I truly expected him to lose and was prepared to offer my full support for Hillary Clinton. This needs to be the year that Democrats can finally come together to try and do something about the current state of our nation. Somebody needs to restore the world’s faith in the United States and retune a failing economy. If you think John McCain is the man to do that then I’m fine with your decision and your opinions. If you think Hillary Clinton was that person and you’re voting for McCain out of spite, then you seriously need to rethink your action before the ballot is cast.
