Current Events — HabitableZone

Current Events » in reply to Intelligent statements

I was actually leaning toward Obama before, oh, 3 months ago.
Mary Anne — (archived)

The more the sniping continued, the more I realized I didn't care whether I voted in PA's Democratic primary.

I mean, why encourage them? I'll vote against the Republican nominee in the fall anyway. My primary vote is "Shut Up".

My family has a generations-long history of involvement in local politics. I literally sat under the table as a tiny girl while my grandfather and his political friends planned the strategy for the upcoming election. I know how it works. I also know that the statement Obama made in that fundraising dinner is not what a pro from my Grandpa's dining room would have said, even in that age before instant transmission. People used to have memories before there was the internet. Remarks made at any public function, however supposedly restricted, are public, and will be repeated one way or another. Offhand remarks like that never left the inner circle, where people know how to keep their mouths shut.

And, I mean, really. To ascribe social patterns older than anyone reading this to a contemporary economic crisis? Please. He's entitled to his opinion, but I recognize cookie-cutter sociology when I see it.

You expressed disappointment that politicians can't be casual. Well, they can't. Politics is theater with a high-stakes outcome. Stray from the script or miss your cue at your peril. Improv is for the back room. This is why public men and women are lonely. Their public faces must be maintained for them to do their jobs. Those who are very good at this look genuine, but we never see the core of the person. That must be protected because the public will eat them alive if it isn't. If they're lucky, their most inner circle is supportive and discreet, so they have some opportunity to relax.

Most of the time, people pursue office for the status or power, the urge to be the alpha dog or one of that pack, which isn't good or bad, but simply normal primate behavior. The best are animated by ideas and principles, and often would prefer to go home; the worst, by ideology or a sense of mission, and sometimes by money in the form of influence-buying and other forms of graft.

I'm looking at two alpha dogs snarling at each other. Just let's get on with it before somebody loses an ear.

In the meantime, if Obama wants to shoot himself in the foot for the general election in advance, he seems to know where he can get the gun.

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