Coke & Pepsi, Android & Apple, Hoarders & Hoarding: Buried Alive, Obama & Romney. America is crammed with choices. With November 6th just 34 days away, everybody is talking politics. I'm not one for missing out on a conversation, so I thought I would weigh in on the political landscape as well. Both candidates are touting this as the most important election of our lifetime. That is until 2016. Pretty sure that by the time the next election rolls around, we won't be hearing "The second most important election of our lifetime", or "Hey, remember that last one? Yeah, well we lied. This one is actually wayyy more important”. Clearly, with the historical importance of this election people are more divided than ever.
Two choices. Out of 311 million people in this country, we whittle it down to two people. Half of the country thinks that their candidate is completely capable and ready to lead his country while thinking that the other is a total and utter dunce. Of course, America is a diverse melting pot of humanity with dissimilar cultures so we should have some uniqueness in our candidates. This diversity is what helps make the United States the greatest country in the world. But what are the chances, that out of the 311 million, the last men standing are named Mitt and Barack, two names in which almost nobody else shares in the country? These are the things I wonder about when election time rolls around. George, Bill, Ronald, Jimmy, Gerald, Richard, John. Sounds like a sandlot team from the late 60s. Barack and Mitt? Sounds like a morning zoo radio show. What are the chances? Has to be less than 1% that these two are paired up, right?
Now before you move forward, if you must know, I am fairly conservative leaning. I know, big shock if you are familiar with me. Raised by a family who owns a small business, I went to Catholic grade school, high school, and graduate school for 16 out of 20 years, recognize the benefits of competition and hard work (not saying that this is mutually exclusive to conservative values), and married into the family of Brian Flannery (there are exactly 5 people reading who understands this last point). So my political views can’t be that surprising. However, there are many social conservative views that I disagree with so I’m a little more moderate than most. Nobody will ever take me as a political savant. I don’t claim to be an expert, not even close, but I do go out of my way to read both sides before making an informed decision on an issue; which I can only hope the rest of the country does as well, no matter which candidate they support. But, much like the Summer Olympics, most of the country only pays attention every 4 years. It’s ironic that the Olympics and the Presidential election occur in the same year. Just as I don’t watch the Synchronized Diving World Championships every summer, most people don’t watch live CSPAN House Chamber coverage to form a more rounded political opinion in a non-election year. I certainly don't.
If I'm voting on magnetism alone, I'm voting for Obama. He wins in a landslide. I’m sure that even the most conservative of Republicans would agree that they need a candidate with a little more charisma. Romney totally lost me in the personality department when he performed an impromptu a cappella rendition of America the Beautiful while on the campaign trail in Florida. Although this was certainly chill worthy, it doesn’t hold a candle to John Kerry’s first line of the 2004 Democratic National Convention speech in which he declared, “I’m John Kerry, and I’m reporting for duty”, while raising his hand in a salute fashion. Most politicians do not understand how to talk and act normally to the American people because they have been put on a pedestal and need to almost be robotic to navigate through the political waters up to that point.
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Maybe it’s because of the incredible stress they’re under, or maybe it’s due to what’s on the line. I do understand why politicians need to appeal to everybody, but they do so in a way that is so insincere. Did you know when asked, Paul Ryan's favorite band is Rage Against the Machine? However, Ryan says that he doesn't enjoy the songs based on their lyrics (which radically lean left), but rather for their musicianship. Are you kidding me? Every vote is precious, so of course even something as little as a favorite band must have some sort of asterisk. This is solely due to the round the clock coverage in today’s connected world. One slip up, and the 24-hour news networks report, Tweet, and have panel discussion on what this means to the American people. Ever since I heard that Rage Against the Machine is Paul Ryan’s favorite, I cannot stop picturing him running a 2 hour marathon listening to Killing in the Name Of while shouting, “Eff you, I won’t do what you tell me”. Joking aside, much like the last election, I feel that Ryan reaches the American people in a way that Romney just can't connect to. When it comes to newspapers and magazines, I hope he reads “umm…all of them”. Wouldn’t want an uninformed VP now would we?
In preparation for the debates, I've been studying up on the issues of most importance. And by that, I mean I'm not fast-forwarding through the commercials when I DVR something. I can’t believe that there is still another whole month of political ads. The positive to living in Ohio is that my vote actually means something. Try being an Obama supporter in Houston, TX, or a Romney voter in Cupertino, CA. Might as well not even show up to the polls. But Ohio's votes count. Unfortunately, we have to deal with all of the campaign commercials bashing the other candidate. There are millions of potential voters forming their opinions on these commercials alone, it’s kind of scary. But, as long as these replace the Aaron Rodgers State Farm Discount Double-Check commercials, then I am a-okay.
There are so many reasons to be down on the Presidential election process, from the absurdness of only having two candidates, to 24-hour news coverage, to political campaign commercials, to the Electoral College (I think they even beat the University of Akron in football last year). But just think, we could be living in the Middle East or in a faux democratic state where there is there is no true choice . Or even better, we could be texting the word VOTE to POTUS-02 after each live debate with Ryan Seacrest moderating. Yes, there are some minor flaws; but overall, it is the best process in the world. Whichever candidate you are supporting, please get out and vote on November 6th. You know, it is the most important election of our lifetime after all.
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