Month: January 2004

So Kerry took Iowa. That was quite a surprise. I was not too surprised that Gephardt faded – there never seemed to be much juice behind his candidacy. Edwards, I think, has floated towards the top becasue he’s gotten enough name recognition to garner interest but not so much intense scrutiny as to increase his negatives. I’m not sure he can go all the way but he’s looking mighty attractive as someone’s VP.

Dean took third – disappointing. It puts the presure on and makes New Hampshire a real do-or-die scenario. Although if I recall correctly, Clinton placed 4th in Iowa and did not win New Hampshire, so all is not lost.

The New York Times, and many other news sources, are reporting today on President Bush’s latest proposal, to earmark 1.5 billion dollars to promote healthy marriages. With 7+ years of marriage under my belt, I’ll be first to admit that healthy marriages take work, but I’m appalled that in such tight economic times this is considered a big priority by The Powers That Be.

“A growing body of statistical evidence suggests that children fare best, financially and emotionally, in married two-parent families,” says the Times. And that’s true. But what this country really needs is not more smarmy commercials promoting being a Dad, but a focus on creating the kinds of jobs that help families stay afloat financially and on improving education so that more Americans are capable of holding down those good jobs.

Most of the press coverage I’ve read focuses on how this plays to the president’s base of conservative voters, and how this may be the first step towards federal regulation or legislation against gay marriage. I find myself wondering whether this is another way to get the much vaunted “faith based initiatives” back into play. After all, the Federal government really doesn’t have much apparatus for family counseling or marriage training. A lot of churches do, though.

The more I think about it, the more I am convinced this is another one of Karl Rove’s political moves. It’s not really about public policy or actually helping people. It’s about having a proposal on the table that you can use to smear your political rivals as being “anti family” if they say anything to oppose it. And to top it off, this proposal appeals directly to the soccer Moms who are key swing votes.

I know this is the sort of thing to expect in an election year. I’m sure more is to follow. But boy, does it suck. This is the kind of blatant political posturing that made me think I’d sooner pick up doggie poo all day than run for political office.
I did want to run for office when I was younger. I thought I would be able to do something good for people. I’m glad I didn’t. I don’t think I would like being the kind of person who can successfully get elected in America these days.

I wrote about this issue yesterday and here I am back at it again today – a post over at Blog For America set me off. According to The Club For Growth, people who support Howard Dean are part of a vast

latte-drinking,
sushi-eating,
Volvo-driving,
New York Times-reading,
body-piercing,
Hollywood-loving,
left-wing freak show

The Burnt Orange Report posted a nifty comeback. An excerpt:

Even when you work this out on a per-capita basis, there is one Starbucks location in Vermont for every 307,000 Vermonters, versus one Texas location for every 53,987 Texans. In other words, there are over five times as many Starbucks locations on a per-person basis in Texas than there are in Vermont.

Since the market would never lie to us, we can safely assume who the real latte-sippers are.

Although this sort of tit-for-tat admittedly brings a smile to my lips, the underlying issue is a serious one. It all gets back to that great cultural divide in America these days, and it worries me. We have become a nation of “Us” and “Them” and we seem to continually strive for more ways of dividing ourselves.

I am really, really tired of it. Sleazy, divisive, insulting, underhanded politics seems to be the name of the game these days – and not just in Republican circles – and I’ve had enough. I want my country back.

I hope from the bottom of my heart that Howard Dean is as good as we supporters believe him to be, because I don’t think I could stand another letdown. If he turns out to be yet another slimy politician who’s brillantly, yet cynically, manupulated himself into his current front-runner status, I’m going to give it up and look hard at moving to someplace nice and quiet like Tonga.