Ya Wanna Believe 'im, Dont'cha?
I must admit, he gives a good and direct speech...

I've been around long enough now to have endured quite a few Prezzential administrations, and I think "endured" is the key word here. Nixon and Watergate. LBJ and the Vietnam War. Jimmy Carter and the Iran Hostage crisis. Ronald Reagan, dogged by the Iran/Contra scandal. Gerald Ford and the Nixon Pardon. Bill Clinton and his almighty stupidity in "doing" a little Political Intern, in a government building, on government time. And, how about the contenders? Robert Kennedy, who spoke with idealism and gave a new generation hope...gunned down after his victory speech at the 1968 California primary. Meantime, Kennedy's assassin, Sirhan Sirhan is still supported by taxpayer dollars...

Even though he made it to the Prezzidency, I still see John F. Kennedy as a contender, shot down in Dallas before he had a chance to be great. He was on the way to being great. Imagine how history could've been re-shaped, had he lived. How about Walter Mondale, who could have also been great, but the attacks on him during his campaign did irreparable damage, leaving a bitter taste in his mouth, and after that, he got out of politics. I believe he was concerned about America. But he had the great Republican wolfpack to deal with. Conversely, one could look at the way Michael Dukakis' Prezzidential ambitions "tanked". Finally, let's look at what we've got now: the stupidity, sheer idiocy, graft, corruption, lies and lack of vision that the current Bush administration has exhibited time after time after time after years and years and YEARS. Fool me once, okay; fool me twice and the excrement hits the fan. We, as a nation, RE-ELECTED George W. Bush. WHAT COULD HAVE WE BEEN THINKING, PEOPLE???????

Right now, I have no reason to support John McCain. His passion is just gone, "outta here". No, I don't advocate "change" just for the sake of change, but I can't advocate someone who represents More Of The Same Old Song And Dance that we've heard in American politics for years and years and years and years and YEARS. I believe the War in Iraq should NEVER have started. True, the War may be just 'one issue', but its impact has a rippling effect on our nation's consciousness. Prezzident Bush's Ill-logic of "staying the course" has had the same effect on our nation that the Vietnam War had, during Prezzident Johnson's administration. After the REAL Vietnam War casualty amounts and atrocities were exposed for what they were, those revelations basically ran Lyndon Baines Johnson out of office. Several years later, the U.S. was run out of Vietnam. Those last scenes of desperation as U.S. copters spirited away military people and sympathizers from the rooftop of the U.S. Embassy were just awful. We weren't in Vietnam to win. We might be holding our ground in Iraq, but current Prezzential Approval Ratings suggest that America is ditching the Prezzident. Why has George W. Bush said that "Iraq is not another Vietnam"? Because it really IS.

Vietnam divided our nation, it pitted sons & daughters against parents, Hippies vs. Conservatives, Doves against Hawks, and College Students against the police (witness Kent State and the Democratic National Campaign in 1968, in which indeed the Whole World Was Watching). Another result of the war? Depleted resources in our nation. We spend so much time taking care of the rest of the world, that we Don't Take Care Of The People that Live In This Nation. Gosh, there's problems with oil, outsourcing, health care, ultra-high prescription costs, illegal immigration, and on and on and ON. I am just hoping that if, If, IF our next Prezzident can get us out of the Iraq quagmire, that money formerly spent on the war will go to ENHANCE our nation, not be channeled into favoritism and PORK. McCain has advocated we STAY in Iraq, for how much longer, is anyone's guess. Is this what we WANT?

Another reason I absolutely HATE politics is, the degree of negative spin, nastiness, and endless manipulation that succeeds in only obfuscating the issues further. I hate these now-fashionable dog-and-pony-show political debates that are just plain NASTY. I am ASHAMED of the political climate here in our country; it PANDERS to the ABSOLUTE LOWEST LEVEL; instead of intelligent discussion, we have, at least in a large part, "he said this, she said that, he supported this, she supported that; he is corrupt, she is power-hungry, yadda, yadda, yadda, FRICKIN' YADDA, BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH." It's gotten so bad that I've just tuned out politics altogether. I find politics to be about as awe-inspiring as any regular Sunday Sermon that Seems As If It Will Never End, ZZZZzzzz.

What seems to set Barack Obama apart, is his ability to motivate, to ignite one's imagination. In acknowledging his "Potomac Primary" wins tonight, he said "Change won't be easy". A dash of realism there. Refreshing. Sure, maybe Obama advocates a tax-and-spend system in which government does more for the people...but, But, BUT...if we can get out of this DAMN IRAQ WAR and re-direct the BILLIONS of dollars spent financing that war, maybe, Maybe, MAYBE his advocacy of "change" is attainable. I said, "CAN be". Which implies "HOPE". What the HELL are we going to the polls for if we don't have a sense of HOPE?

George W. Bush, as much of a TOTAL IDIOT as he is, gave us hope, standing on the rubble of "9/11", saying that we were going to git Obama and all the rest of those responsible. That was over SEVEN YEARS AGO. And look where things stand now. There is No hope under this administration, there is No hope under this Prezzident, and there is No hope if WE ELECT A NEW PREZZIDENT WHO WANTS TO PARALLEL WHAT THE PREVIOUS REPUBLICAN ADMINISTRATION stood for. In short, right now, at least to me, the Republicans are not offering HOPE. "Hope" is an intangible sort of something that STIRS people. Even in tonite's victory speech, McCain came across as so smooth and subdued that he couldn't stir a bowl of Malt-O-Meal, let alone excite even a small portion of the American Voting Public.

I listened to Barack Obama's speech tonight. Yes, it is true that we have all been promised things before. We're skeptical. We've heard it all. We've heard the political jargon and glittering generalities espoused by Prezzidential office-seekers. But, Obama actually gave a political speech that was exciting, definitive, and though dignified, absolutely RAILED against the outdated policies of recent Republican administrations. And, he gives a good speech. And I Really Wanna Believe Him. I Really Do. Can Obama accomplish everything he supports? Of COURSE NOT. Impeding the forward progress any new Prezzident desires to make are senators, representatives, filibusters, lobbyists (as Jimmy Carter, an admitted "outsider", found out) as well as endless room for vast graft and corruption in our Great Political System...

I just want a Prezzident with a vision, who can actually Generate Original Thought, who can inspire, who we can look up to, who we are Proud to have as Our Prezzident. I frankly have not felt that for A LONG TIME. When George W. Bush tries to resemble a lucid human being by appearing on National TV, I just wait for the sound bytes, which are hard enough to take, let alone a full-length Bush diatribe. No, thanks. Look, I don't know anything about politics, okay? I sit on the sidelines; that's where I want to be, and I admit that. Chances are, I am one of the most ignorant people ever to live in America. That said, if I feel this way about politics, how many others feel the same way too? So I bang out these words, doing 75 words a minute, and these are my concerns, and I think there are a whole lotta oppressed folks in the U.S.A. who feel the same way (in general, if not specifically).

At this point in this post, I would like to feature the lyrics of a song by one of my all-time Musical Heroes, NEIL YOUNG, who's also been around a very, very long time. Words cannot begin to describe how proud I've always been of Neil, and how much I've always valued him. This song is from his album of a couple of years ago, "Living With War"...

"Lookin' For A Leader"

Lookin' for a leader to bring our country home
Reunite the red, white and blue before it turns to stone
Lookin' for somebody young enough to take it on
Clean up the corruption and make the country strong

Walkin' among our people, there's someone who's straight and strong
To lead us from desolation and a broken world gone wrong
Someone walks among us and I hope he hears the call
And maybe it's a woman, or a black man after all.

Maybe it's Obama, but he thinks that he's too young*
Maybe it's Colin Powell, to right what he's done wrong
America has a leader, but he's not in the house
He's walkin' here among us and we've got to seek him out...

*Remember, this song was written in '05...and maybe Obama isn't 'too young'. Look at JFK, after all...

Ol' Neil pretty much lays it on the line here. We need someone fresh, with a new perspective, with a new way of doing things, to be our next Prezzident. Is that someone Barack Obama, a black man? Maybe. Is that someone Hillary Clinton? If she's elected, I hope so. I'm not totally comfortable with her; at this point, right now, I just find her alienating, and I don't know why. And It Ain't 'Cos She's A Woman. I've long held the belief that, "why not have a Woman Prezzident; she sure couldn't screw things up any worse!" I have just HAD IT with the Bush Administration, and the sooner Next January 20th comes along, the sooner I don't have to see his ugly mug spouting forth all kinds of political deception, the better off I will be, and the better off WE AS A NATION will be.
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Anyone who's read a few of my posts has probably noticed by now that I deliberately misspell the Chief Executive's office, that of "Prezzident". And the only way I'll spell it correctly is when someone can actually bring a shred of DIGNITY to the office. I'm still waiting...