Democrats VS Republicans - OOOOOH NOOOOO!!!!!!!

[stusegal]

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Six months ago we had what was looking like a "historic" election, and not just because of the race or gender of the candidates:

• On one side we have Barack Obama, who has managed to rally many long-disgusted voters with his call to action, his call to change.  And he manages to do this despite tepid, or no, support from the traditional Democratic Machine; in fact the Party was clearly behind anybody/everybody but Obama.  But we got to see the beauty of our system – the voters were behind Obama, and the Democratic Party was stuck with him.  Why stuck?  If elected, to implement his promise of Change, Obama simply cannot allow the status quo within the Party or the Beltway, and this will mean a serious rocking of the powerful Democratic Party.
• On the other side John McCain, a man long hated by Republican Party loyalists.  The Republican Party’s worst nightmare, the one man they’ve never been able to control.  The man who has actually worked with, and befriended the Enemy (Dems).  But again, the voters were behind him – and the Party is not just worried about him keeping his promises if elected, they know he'll simply ignore the Party if they won't go along with him, so they're as terrified of the prospect of a McCain presidency as they are of an Obama presidency.

So what I believe was making the election so historic, and so interesting, is we had two candidates who were marching to the beat of their own drummers.  Two candidates who were clearly not their parties’ preference.  Two candidates exhorting ideas which were not simply one more re-hashing of the same old Red and Blue dogma.

And it certainly looked like Obama was attracting voters who heretofore had been apathetic to the entire process.  And McCain was attracting non-Republican middle-of-the-roaders who heretofore had looked to alternatives like the Libertarian Party. 

New Voters!!  Can you imagine?  The highest voter turnout we’ve seen in the past 50 years was 1960, with a 63% turnout.  But in recent years, when we have all supposedly been so concerned, the turnout has been  -  2000=51.3%,  2004=55.3%.  So let’s just say that roughly ½ the population has been so apathetic, or disenfranchised, as to not even exercise their vote.  New Voters are a fantastic development.

SO WHAT HAPPENED???

Now I look around and suddenly I see the same people supporting the Dem and Reps as were in 2000, and 2004, and saying the same things.  And the polls are confirming it; Obama & McCain neck-and-neck.  Sure looks to me like the same old same old.

How did this happen?  Was it Hillary throwing her support to Barack?  Huckabee praising McCain?

I don’t think so.  I think it was, bizarrely, (bizarre because they say the VP candidate is meaningless) the selection of the Veeps:

• First Obama selecting Biden.  A guy who has spent the last 25 years playing Washington politics.  A Washington insider (just please forget Biden’s claim that he’s not an insider because he commutes to Wilmington.  This would be like Jon Corzine, when he was CEO of Goldman Sachs, claiming to not be a New York Financier because he commuted to Jersey).  A guy who will toe the party line.  A guy who can make all the party bosses, and the traditional Democrats, feel warm and fuzzy, because he’s one of them (and maybe he can even influence Barack).
• Then McCain selecting Palin.  A woman who represents all the viewpoints of the Conservative Right.  Right to life.  Right to bear arms.  Traditional marriage.  Etc. etc.  A woman who can make the Conservative Right feel warm and fuzzy (and maybe she can influence McCain).

So what they effectively both did was cave to the fear of not being able to be elected without the traditional base of support provided by their respective parties.  And the result is  -  they have both attracted the historic supporters of their parties.  So the country is once again divided the same way we were in 2000 and '04.  50/50 amongst actual voters (of course there are still at least 40% of potential voters who will stay home).

The question is  -  did they trade their principles for votes?  Of course we won’t be able to answer that until a year or so after the election  -  but the tactics which have turned an election between two independent thinkers into just one more Dem/Rep polarization of the country is both concerning, and disappointing.

I leave you with a verse from “Mrs. Robinson”, written by Paul Simon in 1967:

Sitting on a sofa
On a Sunday afternoon,
Going to the candidates' debate,
Laugh about it,
Shout about it,
When you've got to choose,
Every way you look at it, you lose.

Paul’s words were quite insightful, as the choice in ’68 was Richard Nixon, Hubert Humphrey or George Wallace.  Let's hope they don't apply to '08.

Comments

[metzhead.livejournal.com]

I like Corzine. I saw him on Jim Cramer's show (yeah I admit to watching him with a certain amount of self loathing) the other night, and he seems to be one of the few politicians who grasp the basics of finance.

And he's white, which means I have high hopes for his future in the democratic party.

Unfortunately . . .

[stu-segal.livejournal.com]

. . . he lost the support of most New Jerseyans, who elected him not long ago, as the result of 2 things:

1) Wanted to privatize the toll roads, and his plan included projections that indicated an 800% toll increase. You can imagine the reaction - it led to demonstrations in Trenton, and the withdrawal of his plan.

2) Was injured in a car accident while not wearing his seatbelt. Not a big deal until decoding of the GM blackbox revealed that his State Trooper driver was going 92mph at the time, and Corzine who was sitting in the front seat, was apparently fine with that. Naturally the tickets which would have been issued to anyone else were not issued to the trooper.

My view of Corzine? A very smart guy. A very shrewd guy. Unfortunately, he's shrewd like the guys who run the WooHoo bank - only difference is he was lucky enough to be at the right bank at the right time.

I suspect if Obama is elected Corzine will be going to DC - perhaps to head Treasury or the Fed.

ps - we should send Cramer to Washington.