I have no real guess as to who'll win the presidential election in November. It feels like Kerry to me but I can recall times when it felt like Dukakis or Gore…so I don't know. I do think that the undecideds will decide based largely on events that have not yet occurred, and I don't necessarily mean another 9/11-style terrorist attack. One suspects the Bush side will start claiming that they've expertly and courageously foiled many such attacks and that if someone like John Kerry had been in the White House, those disasters would surely have happened and thousands would now be dead. I also have a hunch that the Kerry side (or maybe just the anti-Bush side, which is not exactly the same thing) is going to start insinuating that Bush is coming apart in various ways. Some of you may have glimpsed the story that was posted on a less-than-reputable "news" site that Bush is on medication to cope with severe depression. I don't believe that's true but I do believe that by the end of October, both sides will openly be spreading much worse about the other.
At times, I think the best thing is just to, as George Carlin and the Loew's Theater Chain put it, enjoy the show. Me, I love the backflips. Not that long ago, back when Clinton ran against Dole or the previous Bush, war hero versus draft-dodger was No Contest for some people. The military records of the candidates were all you needed to separate Great Man from Worthless Scum…or so said various Conservative pundits and pals. Now, all those same folks are swimming feverishly in the opposite direction, and also pretending they never said what they once said about Balanced Budgets. At the same time, an awful lot of Democrats who don't even know what Stem-Cell Research is have suddenly decided it's the most important issue in the world. After all, it may be able to cure diseases…like rising Bush numbers.
I'm skeptical about everyone's sincerity on these issues, just as I'm skeptical when Bush claims he wouldn't have done anything different with Iraq if he'd had better intelligence, or when Kerry talks about Faith. In Kerry's acceptance speech, he had a good line about…well, here's the quote: "For four years, we've heard a lot of talk about values. But values spoken without actions taken are just slogans. Values are not just words." I agree with that but I'm not sure it applies any more to Republicans than it does to Democrats. It could certainly apply to Kerry's attempts to convince "swing" moderates that he's a deeply religious guy and therefore shares their sense of the world. I don't know that he is or isn't, but I've never heard a politician anywhere talk about Faith and God and not felt that the words were coming from a speechwriter, as opposed to the speaker's heart. I also think folks in both parties have salivated over a lot of candidates who said the "right" thing in speeches and then either never took the promised actions or actually worked in the opposite direction.
And what's with this new contest to be crowned King of Optimism? Both candidates are claiming to be the more optimistic, which is silly enough. But one has his people raising the Terror Alert and warning that buildings will soon be crumbling while the other tells us how badly everything's going on all fronts. I hate to think what these guys would say if the focus groups told them voters appreciate Pessimism.
The word "cynicism" gets thrown around a lot in politics, especially when you point out that most of the names on our ballots are folks who are mediocre, at best. I don't believe that anyone really, deep down, thinks Bush and Kerry are great leaders…and I think what would be cynical would be to believe these men are the best we can do. Deep in my gut, I keep thinking that someday, some candidate will come along who will transcend all the finance deals and politician-marketing, and actually stand for the betterment of us all. That's real Optimism on my part, almost to the point of Blind Stupidity.
Since that's not going to happen this year, if ever, we might as well sit back, relax and, like I said, enjoy the show. I'll get the Raisinets if you'll get the popcorn.