Election '08: Here's to You, Mr. Wright
⊆ 7:20 PM by A. Liebendorfer | ˜ 1 comments »
"I'm not sure I like how all this is going," my grandma said over the paper this morning. "It seems like all they're trying to do is entertain everybody; all I care about is the health care."
She put down The Plain Dealer on the on the cover was the old Straight-Talk Express flanked by some woman I just assumed was his daughter or maybe. This far into the election I started thinking why we hadn't heard of the McCain girl before. Hilary had Chelsea but at his age, a daughter on the campaign trail could really pull her weight.
But no, it was bigger than that. She was actually his running mate. I couldn't figure out how to say her name: "PAH-len," " peh-LIN," "PAY-lin," "PALL-in?" I felt bad that this woman could be our president some day and I couldn't even say her name. I asked Grandma. "I don't even know. Must be French or something."
Straight-Talk did the one thing we all counted on him not to do –surprise us.
I remember back to sophomore history class. It was then that our teacher Mr. Wright started to explain the gladiator arena known as election politics. He explained that Ohio was a key state in elections because we had so many people and we were one of the best sample demographics for the rest of the country.
He called the last election, too. When the U.S. is in a war, he told us, people normally vote to keep the GOP. This is a pretty strong rule unless things are Vietnam-level bad. "The question," he said in his signature deep voice, "is how bad will Iraq be in 2008?"
Then he told us one day that the woman voting block could be unstoppable if they could all rally behind one person. And finally, he said when Congress can't seem to get anything done, the issue of experience versus fresh thinking comes into play and sometimes governors are strong candidates because they're not caught up in "Washington nonsense" and they're still executive branch people. Give them a couple terms to get the constitution revised…Schwarzenegger-Chuck Norris 2020.
In my inbox yesterday morning, I was greeted with Joe Biden letting me know the sprint to the White House was on, a handy video of him and Barack signing the nomination papers, and this line: "By the time you read this, we may even know who John McCain has chosen to be the next Dick Cheney."
I read further into The Plain Dealer article and Palin hard seems to fit that description. An ex-beauty pageant, spunky supermom governor from of Alaska who has a journalism degree and likes to hunt caribou in her free time, and –can I say this?- she's sort of a babe in a way.
I'm not saying she'll have my vote; what I'm saying is: "Wow. We've seen everything in this race." First we saw Nana Hilary and now Palin, well…she's like our best friend's mom; a constitutionalist like Ron Paul ran for the Republicans and now we've got take-the-fight-to-'em Biden as a running mate; then the contenders: Obama, a lofty-thinking black man, and McCain, a straight-talking vet from 'Nam who's just about as white as they come. Nothing wrong with that; just saying.
By the end of the article, I couldn't help but wonder if John McCain had sit in one of Mr. Wright's classes. Palin's a strong female character, outside the slosh of Washington, with her own personal stake in the Iraq war, a son leaving this year.
As a voter, I don't know if I've been baptized by fire or just spoiled.
Let's get real, we are the hotspot for this next election: McCain had Palin come all the way to Dayton to appear with her for the first time and Obama-Biden went straight to Pittsburgh after the convention. Everybody says how much they want to leave dumpy old Ohio, but if living here means star-treatment lip service every four years and front row seats to the biggest change I expect in my lifetime, I could stay.
I wouldn't be surprised to go back to my high school and see an influx of "Wright 2012" signs in lockers.
September 12, 2008 at 8:01 AM Adam,
I didn't think anyone was listening.
Thank you for the kind words. Politics are certainly fascinating and worthy of discussion. I plan to be a regular reader of The Daily Minutiae. Best wishes in you academic and personal pursuits.
Mr. Wright