Its that time again and 4 years have come and gone like clockwork. Its once again time to elect a new leader to our country and for the first time ever, I'll be old enough to have my say in who I want to lead this country. This presidential election marks a period of change in America, because no matter which side wins, history will be made. Barack Obama will be the first African-American president or Sarah Palin will be the first female vice president. As much as I can see that if either side wins, its a victory against ethnic and gender based oppression, I cannot find myself being at peace of mind if either side wins.
As you could probably tell from the previous paragraph, I'm young, and hence, I'm supposed to be stupid about politics and not really care. And to be honest, thats pretty correct. Truth is, as much as you hear stories about young people being involved in politics these days, most of us don't really care at all about the core themes that float around a presidential election. We just vote either by parental influence or by how the presidential nominee is portrayed by the media. This presidential election is going to be decided by the votes of people that don't care at all about how our country is run. Scared much America?
This presidential election is also going to be decided by the youth of our country, because of who is running on the Democratic ticket. Whenever I see Barack Obama portrayed in the media, I see him smiling, waving to his supporters, and when I hear him talk, he sounds a bit shaky at first but you get the point hes trying to put across. He gives off that warm, fatherly figure type of glow. Whereas, John McCain is always shown by the media to be serious and hard, while giving off the image of that tough father that doesn't take any shit from anyone. While the latter probably symbolizes traditional American ideals more than the former, don't you think with current feelings about the U.S. in international affairs, we could use someone a bit more, so to speak, friendlier? Obama symbolizes change, while McCain symbolizes just 4 more years of someone slightly better than Bush.
This presidential election isn't just a battle between the two presidential nominees, its also between the two vice presidential nominees. When Obama choose Joe Biden to be his running mate, I think it was something that everyone expected. I think everyone was sort of relieved that Obama picked someone like Biden, because people just literally went "Ok good he has a typical old white male as his running mate. He'll stop Obama if he gets too crazy." Its exactly the kind of vice president that Obama needs so that he doesn't completely alienate middle-class America.
While I see Obama's pick as helping him to win the presidency and benefit the country, I see McCains choice as being one of the most random things ever. When I heard that McCain had choosen a female running mate, my first thought was, "Oh hes just trying to snatch up all of the women voters that otherwise would be voting for Obama. Then, when I saw how Sarah Palin looked like, my next though was (albeit childish), "Wow looks like McCain wants a little vice pres booty". Yes, immature and inappropriate, but ive talked with friends and I'm not the only one that had that thought. Now for more serious discussion, when I heard Palin's credentials, I laughed at them. I've not been much for "political experience", but when you're from Alaska, a state most people stereotype as being a blizzard with friendly eskimos, one can only question how much she really knows about politics. Though all this new evidence has came out about how she really isn't that bad, she still is just that lady from Alaska when it all comes down to it, because like ive said earlier, youth doesn't care about core ideas, we just care about image. And boy has Palin's image been taking a beating. The events I can think of that have shaped Palin's image is the whole "Troopergate" scandal, her daughter being pregnant out of wedlock, and her not knowing about the Bush Doctrine. I do admit though, that two of those three aren't really her fault. I heard people saying about her daughters pregnancy that, "If she can't even manage her family then how can she run the country?" Well her 17 year old daughter got pregnant out of wedlock. Big deal right? In todays society thats not uncommon at all, and I think the only ones that would be truly mad at this are the guys living about 50 years in the past. I mean, come on, times change, get with the program. Everyone isn't as pure as they were in the past. Also, I don't think that people should be getting on her for not knowing what the Bush Doctrine is. I wonder what the results of a poll would be with the question asking "Do you know what the Bush Doctrine is?" Its not something they teach you about in history class like the Monroe or the Roosevelt Doctines, so it's no surprise that nobody knows what it is. Still though, regardless of Palins credentials or her personal life, I don't see her helping out the country. I don't think she really represents a positive change in our country, but if she is elected she will shake things up a bit in the capitol so that can't be all too bad.
Well I hope you guys understand my point of view of this election. I know that most bloggers are all very knowledgeable about politics and they have solid opinions and theories about politics, but this is just a piece of mind from the average person voting in this upcoming election.
P.S. - Points to anyone that got the Rocky and Bullwinkle reference in the title. One of the best cartoons ever.
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