Well, Maybe Just a Little Bit
I don't blog about politics for the most part. It's because I don't feel like I understand them. I've been reading Newsweek since I was a kid - my parents have had a subscription for as long as I can remember. I started out just reading the comics. Then I found those My Turn essays. Then I found that Anna Whoever in the back (except she's only there every other week - some other guy who looks stiff writes on her off weeks). Then I noticed that up/down chart near the front. Oh, and those Tip Sheets in the back? Love 'em! Basically, I love how Newsweek dresses, but rarely pay attention to its personality.
When I moved to Florida one of the first things I did there was to get my own Newsweek subscription. I used to tear out the wine recs they had in the back and send them to my brother. In Florida, I guess I didn't run in a very well-educated crowd, because when people would find out I read Newsweek, the most common response I'd get was, "Wow, you're really into politics, huh?" No, no I'm not.
I don't know politics. The same way college kids cram for midterms the night before, I cram before going to vote. I'm not bad at knowing where I stand on issues, but I'm not too solid on picking people. Issues seem so easy while people are complicated.
And now Hillary is going to run. Fuck. Hillary is .... I see Hillary as the Mary-Jo of politics, to be honest. That whole "stand by your man" thing is bullshit to me. Some things are deal-breakers. Some things are unforgivable. Now I have my own theory (okay it's my dad's, but I liked it and adopted it) as to why Mary-Jo stayed with Joey. And I can see why someone wouldn't want to divorce POTUS. But still. My respect for someone just .... comes down a few notches to be honest.
I lose respect for people who both cheat on their spouses and for people who stay with spouses who have cheated on them. Yeah, it's none of my business, I know. And yeah, I've never been married so I don't know what it's like, I know. But still. This is how I feel.
Yes, I voted for Bill. Why, since I lost respect after he cheated on his wife? Because as a president, he was doing a fine job. As a boss, with impressionable young interns? Not such a great job. As a dude running the country though? Just fine, carry on. Now had he and Hillary gotten divorced and a friend asked me to set them up with him (since we were friends? whatever, just go with me here), I would have warned her that he cheated on his wife, and discouraged her from wanting him. But if there were third terms and he'd been a choice, I'd have voted for him a third time.
I'm not registered as a Democrat. For me, this is a good thing - I'm not sure if Hillary is better for this country or has a better chance of winning than Barack. (I will say that I think Bill would make an excellent First Gentleman.) But Hillary is running, and campaigning.
My mother sent me this thing she found. It's things like not understanding what they're asking for that prompt me to say people should have to take a test before they're allowed to vote. I push to understand the issues I vote on. I ask questions of multiple people, read articles, ask more questions, have been known to take notes and bring cheat sheets to the polls, whatever it takes. But I'd bet there are people who are stupider than me who don't put in the work I do to understand what issues are being voted on.
I mean, I see where they say they want bloggers ideas on how to work together for a change. But what exactly does that mean? You're Hillary - you're older than me, you're more educated than me, better traveled than me, more everything than me. Hell, I've never been voted for in ANYTHING. In second grade we had elections each month to choose a president, vice-president, secretary and treasurer for our class. That's 40 opportunities to be an elected officer. There were something like 32 kids in my class. I was never chosen. Fucking popularity contests.
My point is, why are we doing Hillary's work for her? I don't know how to campaign. I don't know how we should go about getting change. All I know is that George Bush sucks. All I know is that with George in charge, people are dying more than is reasonable.
Does Hillary want bloggers to write her speech for her? "If you elect me as your president, I promise to do everything in my power to get our soldiers home to us as quickly and safely as possible." Come on - I could have written that shit in 7th grade, surely Hillary can do better than that. Does Hillary want blogged petitions with electronic signatures showing how many people want her elected? Work together for a change, my ass.
Hillary, tell me if you still believe in that whole "it takes a village" thing, and if you do, what you'd do to get more people believing that and implementing it in their own villages. Tell me if Chelsea were 11 years old, if you'd be giving her that controversial vaccine that's being promoted. Hillary, didn't you and your husband fuck up some health care stuff or something, back when Bill was POTUS? Tell me what you learned from that and what you'd do differently. Tell me what your thoughts are on Social Security, since we're losing it. Tell me why you're a better choice than Barack. Tell me why if there's separation of church and state, there's a White House Christmas Tree and a White House Easter Egg Hunt. Will there be a White House Lighting of the Menorah, and a White House Passover Seder? Tell me how you'll fix the mess that is children being left behind left and right and teachers teaching to tests. Tell me, had you been in charge, how you would have handled the Elian Gonzalez situation. Tell me what you'll do to repair our country's relationships with other countries we previously got along with.
Yeah, I don't do politics.
When I moved to Florida one of the first things I did there was to get my own Newsweek subscription. I used to tear out the wine recs they had in the back and send them to my brother. In Florida, I guess I didn't run in a very well-educated crowd, because when people would find out I read Newsweek, the most common response I'd get was, "Wow, you're really into politics, huh?" No, no I'm not.
I don't know politics. The same way college kids cram for midterms the night before, I cram before going to vote. I'm not bad at knowing where I stand on issues, but I'm not too solid on picking people. Issues seem so easy while people are complicated.
And now Hillary is going to run. Fuck. Hillary is .... I see Hillary as the Mary-Jo of politics, to be honest. That whole "stand by your man" thing is bullshit to me. Some things are deal-breakers. Some things are unforgivable. Now I have my own theory (okay it's my dad's, but I liked it and adopted it) as to why Mary-Jo stayed with Joey. And I can see why someone wouldn't want to divorce POTUS. But still. My respect for someone just .... comes down a few notches to be honest.
I lose respect for people who both cheat on their spouses and for people who stay with spouses who have cheated on them. Yeah, it's none of my business, I know. And yeah, I've never been married so I don't know what it's like, I know. But still. This is how I feel.
Yes, I voted for Bill. Why, since I lost respect after he cheated on his wife? Because as a president, he was doing a fine job. As a boss, with impressionable young interns? Not such a great job. As a dude running the country though? Just fine, carry on. Now had he and Hillary gotten divorced and a friend asked me to set them up with him (since we were friends? whatever, just go with me here), I would have warned her that he cheated on his wife, and discouraged her from wanting him. But if there were third terms and he'd been a choice, I'd have voted for him a third time.
I'm not registered as a Democrat. For me, this is a good thing - I'm not sure if Hillary is better for this country or has a better chance of winning than Barack. (I will say that I think Bill would make an excellent First Gentleman.) But Hillary is running, and campaigning.
My mother sent me this thing she found. It's things like not understanding what they're asking for that prompt me to say people should have to take a test before they're allowed to vote. I push to understand the issues I vote on. I ask questions of multiple people, read articles, ask more questions, have been known to take notes and bring cheat sheets to the polls, whatever it takes. But I'd bet there are people who are stupider than me who don't put in the work I do to understand what issues are being voted on.
I mean, I see where they say they want bloggers ideas on how to work together for a change. But what exactly does that mean? You're Hillary - you're older than me, you're more educated than me, better traveled than me, more everything than me. Hell, I've never been voted for in ANYTHING. In second grade we had elections each month to choose a president, vice-president, secretary and treasurer for our class. That's 40 opportunities to be an elected officer. There were something like 32 kids in my class. I was never chosen. Fucking popularity contests.
My point is, why are we doing Hillary's work for her? I don't know how to campaign. I don't know how we should go about getting change. All I know is that George Bush sucks. All I know is that with George in charge, people are dying more than is reasonable.
Does Hillary want bloggers to write her speech for her? "If you elect me as your president, I promise to do everything in my power to get our soldiers home to us as quickly and safely as possible." Come on - I could have written that shit in 7th grade, surely Hillary can do better than that. Does Hillary want blogged petitions with electronic signatures showing how many people want her elected? Work together for a change, my ass.
Hillary, tell me if you still believe in that whole "it takes a village" thing, and if you do, what you'd do to get more people believing that and implementing it in their own villages. Tell me if Chelsea were 11 years old, if you'd be giving her that controversial vaccine that's being promoted. Hillary, didn't you and your husband fuck up some health care stuff or something, back when Bill was POTUS? Tell me what you learned from that and what you'd do differently. Tell me what your thoughts are on Social Security, since we're losing it. Tell me why you're a better choice than Barack. Tell me why if there's separation of church and state, there's a White House Christmas Tree and a White House Easter Egg Hunt. Will there be a White House Lighting of the Menorah, and a White House Passover Seder? Tell me how you'll fix the mess that is children being left behind left and right and teachers teaching to tests. Tell me, had you been in charge, how you would have handled the Elian Gonzalez situation. Tell me what you'll do to repair our country's relationships with other countries we previously got along with.
Yeah, I don't do politics.
posted by Green at 1/21/2007 09:10:00 AM
3 Comments:
Hey, wait a second - *they* didn't fuck up health care. *Congress* fucked up health care. That was a pure, "ain't no Democrat WOMAN gonna tell ME what to do!" moment on the part of Congress.
(But I'm still voting for Obama.)
dude. maybe you *should* do politics? :)
Wow! I'm English, reading this from London, so I'm afraid it took me a while to even work out what POTUS was (go there eventually ...) Great post - the last paragraph is really well written. And if its any consolation, we're feeling exactly the same way about Tony Blair. At least when Bush goes you get to choose someone new - we'll jsut get more of the same!
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