Intermittent Rant

Okay, so I was a little depressed last week with thoughts that Iowa was a fluke and that Obama’s ascendancy was a mere “fairy tale” so to speak. But his win in South Carolina has set my earlier trepidation aside. Let’s not have any illusions about this: the Clinton camp had ceded the primary to him. Certainly, poll numbers must have showed him winning. The story is not that we won though. It’s that he won by a substantial margin, that his support across racial lines is growing.

What really depressed me last week was that lurking behind this hope that Obama could rise above race in this election were notions that people weren’t ready to vote for a black candidate. Obama’s poll numbers in New Hampshire were staggering, yet he lost. Was it because people there were willing to state publicly that they would support a black candidate but that in private they would vote otherwise? Is America not ready for that kind of change? Are people here still THAT racist???

But South Carolina answered no. South Carolina said, “Yes, we can change.” And I felt it. I felt the hope returning to me. I felt like “a skinny kid with a funny name who believes that America has a place for him, too”.

And on the night of the primary, I was riding high when the first person to get on the airways was…President Clinton??? Give me a break! And he delivers a snarky, half-ass concession speech talking about HIS achievements. That’s when I realized it really IS Billary. It’s two for the price of one again. Only this is a bargain I’m not falling for again.

Chris Matthews was right. The “Establishment” always wins in the end. On caucus night in Iowa, after Obama’s stunning victory over Clinton and Edwards, everyone was talking about an Obama Presidency and how the face of politics has changed. Except, of course, Chris Matthews who pointed out however interesting it was that history shows that the “Establishment” candidates tough it out and win in the end. With a win in New Hampshire and Nevada under her belt, it may be too late to stop the Clintonites now. I’m having flashbacks of 2004 where Kerry practically landslid into the nomination. I see the same thing happening again. It makes my cynical.

On the Republican side, Mitt Romney’s campaign is starting to gain traction with a 3rd victory. The South Park guys put it eloquently. What we may see in the general election is a contest between Mitt Romney and Hillary Clinton: two people that a majority of the American people can’t stand. Two people that voters have come out in huge numbers to vote against. Two people that represent what big money and Establishment credentials get you. Basically, it’ll be a vote between a Giant Douche and a Turd Sandwich.

And all of this makes me cynical. It’s not about fancy words and high hopes. It’s not about those lofty words we keep hearing about: change and experience. It’s about believing that this time it can be different, that the cynics aren’t always right, that we can leap forward on a miracle. But maybe those are all just fancy, make-believe ideas for a fancy, make-believe world. So if Chris Matthews is right, if the cynics are right, then who knows what November will have in store for us. As for me, it’s a tossup between a Giant Douche and a Turd Sandwich. And that makes me cynical.

I wanted to meet Fareed Zakaria and I got to meet Fareed Zakaria.

He was on his way to do a taping of the Daily Show with Jon Stewart, but was nice enough to spend a few minutes to meet with me and to chat a little. We talked about his new book and about the state of the world in the coming years. I wish I could say I impressed him, but I’m sure I didn’t. What can I say? I’m just another brown man trying to make it in this crazy world.

I’ve always considered myself a committed moderate and independent eschewing party affiliation and the labeling that often goes with it. But I have a confession: I’ve been rooting for Barack Obama in secret for a while now. And I promised myself that if he won Iowa, I would become an Obamaniac. Well, he’s won Iowa, and so…my fellow Americans, I stand before you today to announce my support for the candidacy for President of the United States.

And I think he can win. He’s become a shrewd politician. Think about it, he understands that politics is not about litanies of promises or strictly about experience and how good a candidate’s resume is. He understands it’s about narratives. It’s about the story you tell. When people say, “It’s too early. He should wait a couple of election cycles,” he counters with MLK’s “fierce urgency of now”. When people say, “He’s too fresh. He doesn’t have the experience,” he talks about having the right kind of experience and the wrong kind of experience. When people talk about him being black enough or white enough, he asserts that he’s not running for Black America or White America but the UNITED States of America. And most importantly, he’s talking about CHANGE, when the people are yearning, shouting, screaming for CHANGE.

So my vote’s for CHANGE. My vote’s for Barack Obama.

I don’t usually flaunt my amazing pattern recognition powers, but watching The Countdown with Keith Olbermann tonight set the little alarms in my head abuzzin’. I mean, if Olbermann’s implication that the word “CAUCus” had some sort of lascivious connotations weren’t enough, there was a string of ED commercials, which got me to thinking: Just WHO is their target demographic???

Before I go on, I must put forward the disclaimer that I am not a regular Countdown viewer and was looking for coverage of the Iowa CAUCus (I feel dirty after typing that for some reason).

By now, we all know the commercials. Couple kissing in the kitchen when suddenly the sink starts spraying water…all…over…them. Or even the dude that goes out shopping with his wife when all of a sudden horns appear over his head. And now this:

I hate hate hate hate hate hate hate this commercial. It’s the gayest thing I’ve ever seen! It’s like ED is part of the cultural landscape now. What’s next? An album? The Erectile Dysfunction Top 40? Movies? A play perhaps?

What makes me cringe all the more is the insinuation of ED in politics. I mean, you watch a football game and it’s not unusual to see a beer commercial or two. Will I have to endure Viva Viagra every time I want to see what’s going on in the latest polls or who’s ahead in the key battleground states? Come on, people, don’t wuss out like Huckabee. Politics is a bloodsport. Show me the gore, show me the guts.

By the way, remember Bob? The guy in the Enzyte commercials with the perpetual grin that would play golf or go for a swim while the satisfied wife served him lemonade. And it had that catchy tune. I miss that tune.