This election has been really bizarre and it looks to get worse before November 4th. We could go on and on about the weirdness on display over the past year, but one aspect in particular is the passion-shifting among democrats and republicans, and even many independents.
Early on, before the parties settled for their nominees, there was no major push for either of the two candidates we’ve ended up with. Sure, they both had supporters, but both McCain and Obama were far away from any discussion of likely presidential nominees. Republicans were largely for Romney with a trailing faction for Huckabee. Democrats were largely for Hillary.
The republican nomination was pretty anticlimactic. It seems like the republican nomination just fizzled down to McCain. Of course, the democrat race needs no explanation. Hillary V Obama was like Rocky I or II…they just kept going regardless of how many vicious upper-cuts their opponent landed.
Once McCain and Obama were official nominees, an interesting shift happened. It seemed to me that most republicans felt like they ended up with the last guy they would have wanted. All the Hillary folks were equally disenchanted with Obama.
But those woeful cries quickly subsided and people generally started shifting their passion towards their party candidate. And within a very short while, it got nasty. The tenor of the presidential ads is cordial compared to how their respective supporters relate to each other. All the detractions and negative remarks about their candidate before they were the nominee have now turned to praise. Both of these guys were longshots, now they’re both touted as saviors to what ails America and the world.
So what happens when everyone wakes up on November 5th with a new president and has to look their co-worker, family member, or friend in the eyes after schredding the relationship over allegiance to someone they really don’t know and really can’t trust to accomplish any of what they promise?
Pick your hills to die on. There are some which are worth it. But your pick for president is not one of them.
Very well said. I’ve never seen such heated arguments around me and the internet/blogs/twitter seems to amplify it even worse.
Great post. I too have been amazed at the conversations and heated debates surrounding this presidential election. I’m tired of it all and ready to move to another country.