political toasters and the TIME

i'm in love with obama. i am.

it took me a while to decide this actually. When we were first looking into who might be the candidates last year, i wasn't at all sure about him, i didn't know nearly enough about him, and i just wasn't really convinced. so i started doing my research, which aside from reading up on him and watching him etc, including my latest summer reading of "the audacity of hope"

he convinced me. he wins.

if you've talked to me about how i feel about him, you've probably already heard this analogy. politics are sticky. in fact, i'm fairly sure the work politic comes from the latin for "sticky". not really... it actually came from the greek for city/citizen... anyways... its sticky. and you never know whats a front and what needs to be said and what CAN be done and what needs to be done and what is possible to accomplish... but by the time you start peeling off all the layers... you're probably exhausted only a few layers in. Its something we've come to accept and understand in studying our politicians. try to see through some of the cracks in the smoke being blown at us... thats about all we can do. so anyhow... here's my analogy. when you receive a gift from someone, the cordial and appropriate thing to do is express gratitude and extreme approval. "oh i really needed this toaster! its perfect! i shall put it in my toaster garden and it will just match amazingly oh my gosh how could you know?! its.. its.. perfect!" but... when you really DO love the gift, and you really DO believe it's perfect, what do you do? you sound exactly the same as when you weren't being quite as candid--if not even more fake. that line is fine. so fine in fact that we use it on a regular basis so as not to offend aunt marianne who got you a barney clock for your 15th birthday-- and aunt marianne will never know the difference. now... away from toasters, and back to poliltics. if politics is the response of courtesy and fake-itude then barack, while he may appear to look the same, is the genuine response.

go read his book. you can hear it in his voice, read it in his book. he really is that 1 in a million guy that really intends to do everything he sets out to do. he really is the guy that we are all depending on. he's the guy that when we say "someone should do something about that"... he's doing something about it. i had such a strange flood of emotion for his cause while reading my book during the democratic convention... that i just had to get it off my chest.

in other news, don't think i didn't give mccain a chance. i used to like him... i remember saying a few years ago what a better candidate he would have been than w. but i encourage you to all go read the TIME interview with him in the "republican" issue. he literally said nothing at all, just took the interviewer in circles and refused to answer anything at all. rather than take that opportunity to show his strengths, he showed ME that he's just like the other smoke-blowers. trying to send us in circles and sound like he's saying something when he's saying nothing at all (although in the interview he didn't even try THAT very hard. he just said nothing"

let me give you a small recap of part of the interview. seriously. it blew my mind, and this is straight from the times.

What do you want voters to know coming out of the Republican Convention — about you, about your candidacy?
I'm prepared to be President of the United States, and I'll put my country first.

There's a theme that recurs in your books and your speeches, both about putting country first but also about honor. I wonder if you could define honor for us?
Read it in my books.

I've read your books.
No, I'm not going to define it.

But honor in politics?
I defined it in five books. Read my books.

[Your] campaign today is more disciplined, more traditional, more aggressive. From your point of view, why the change?
I will do as much as we possibly can do to provide as much access to the press as possible.

But beyond the press, sir, just in terms of ...
I think we're running a fine campaign, and this is where we are.

Do you miss the old way of doing it?
I don't know what you're talking about.

Really? Come on, Senator.
I'll provide as much access as possible ...

In 2000, after the primaries, you went back to South Carolina to talk about what you felt was a mistake you had made on the Confederate flag. Is there anything so far about this campaign that you wish you could take back or you might revisit when it's over?
[Does not answer.]

Do I know you? [Says with a laugh.]
[Long pause.] I'm very happy with the way our campaign has been conducted, and I am very pleased and humbled to have the nomination of the Republican Party.

You do acknowledge there was a change in the campaign, in the way you had run the campaign?
[Shakes his head.]

You don't acknowledge that? O.K., when your aides came to you and you decided, having been attacked by Barack Obama, to run some of those ads, was there a debate?
The campaign responded as planned.

if anyone saw the cho-show recently... M. Cho has a beauty pageant and her assistants final question was "what was the last thing you needed to apologize for?" she consequently responds with a pre-determined answer about bringing home the troops and ending the war in iraq. thats sorta what mccain reminds me of in that piece.

seriously. i'll lose what little faith i have left in humanity if mccain is in the oval office next year.