Let's assume for the moment that Barack Obama is going to be the Democratic nominee for President this year. Okay, not really that much of an assumption, because the math is very much in his favor at this point. Anyway, that means the Republican operatives are busy marking out the word "woman" and all the other misogynistic pejoratives they had in their talking points when they thought that Hillary Clinton would be the nominee, and replacing them with racist and xenophobic ones - because, you know, Obama sounds like Osama ... plus he's black!!1! And their target audience won't really notice the difference. Cause we all know that wimmins, minorities and ferrners is beneath consideration.
The good news is that with things the way they are these days (housing market collapse, deep dissatisfaction with the direction the country is headed, etc., etc., etc.), that Republican target audience is pretty small, and Obama has a chance to become President. Further good news is Obama has invigorated young voters, with his Audacity of Hope and all.
But that scares me.
I suppose it's because I first became aware of politics during the Nixon Administration, but I have a pervading mistrust of politicians. All politicians. And I have a sinking feeling that Obama's words are no more than that - just words to help him get elected - as are the words of Hillary Clinton and, even more so, John McCain.
So what I'm afraid will happen is that all these first-time voters who are energized by Barack Obama will be permanently disillusioned by the entire political process when President Obama turns out (if, indeed, he does) to be no different than anyone who has occupied the White House in the last 30 years. Beholden to the wealthy and the corporations.
Of course, why should this generation be any different than previous ones?
What do you folks think?
No comments:
Post a Comment