All Things Considered.
On my way to the office every morning I enjoy a cup of coffee and National Public Radio(NPR). I have always enjoyed NPR as they seem to put the least amount of spin on their news stories - which I appreciate. Furthermore NPR is normally good at avoiding stupid news stories, like what Paris Hilton had for dinner, choosing to focus more on what I like think is real news. The catch is lately real news is all about the political race for the President of the United States between Barrack Obama and John McCain. Oddly enough, I have been paying some attention to the musings of the radio on this topic as in most instances I have to if I still want to listen to my beloved NPR.
On to my problem. The Media in the United States of America, be it crooked or honest, still can only report on what information is out there. What I mean by this is that manufacturing news is bad for business thus they need to wait for a story to break. Yes a news station can break a story with their own flair added to, with their chosen light if you will, but at the root of it all there still must be a story. This is where the problem is for me on the Political Conventions. There is no story.
Let me fill you in. The Democratic Convention happened last night in Denver. Barrack Obama, the Democratic Candidate, wasn’t even there. He was in my town, Kansas City, at some friend’s house. He did appear at the Convention via satellite for a bit, but the only part that could be directly linked to him that was at the convention was his wife, who gave her first speech, which apparently included loads of statements about how great Hillary Clinto is - still trying to mend that tear in the Democratic Party I see. Beyond that we here Obama saying the same things over and over again - “We need Change. McCain and I are different, I swear! I am just like all of you.” Problem with the last bit is this - a person cannot be like everyone, unless of course he is referring to how he is a human, in which case, bravo sir, you are correct.
How about McCain? The big news on McCain these days, which to me is hysterical, is that he owns so many houses that he lost count. Seriously. A guy who is trying to connect with the people, and blue collar workers are a big deal when it comes to elections, has so much money that he owns so many houses that he lost count. How can a candidate possibly connect with anyone who has a hard time with their only mortgage when he can’t even remember how many houses he owns outright? Much akin to his opponent McCain wants us to know that he is different, well, different from El Presidente Bush that is. Seems his camp figured out that most people look at him as Bush Light. Or Bush 3 The sequal to a dead series.
There are other sparks of news - like both candidates have selected their running partners. Oh wait! No they haven’t! Only Barrack Obama has in the form of Senator Joe Biden. It seems that McCain’s party is having a difficult time figuring out who he should choose. At one point a few stations were talking about how he doesn’t even agree with his handlers, er, staff. He threw some names out there and some of them grimaced, others coughed, one even guffawed!
I guess my only reason for writing this article is this: we really don’t hear about the important things anymore - the ISSUES. We hear about where these guys go, who the eat with, who they meet with, we hear loads of slander of which neither party appears to be above, although the Republicans seem to be better at it. We hear about running mates, and potentials and hopefuls. We hear about conflicts abroad - the ones that have a media impact anyway. We hear about the Olympics and how George Bush was there, and his lovely speech where he made up even more words. We hear about Obama being some blue collar kid who grew up borderline poor and how McCain is a war hero, again and again and again. What kills me though is this: we never hear about what anyone actually stands for. We gets hints here and there, but not the precise information.
I wish someone would release a listing on their beliefs, maybe a website somewhere has that information. You read about both candidates, their beliefs side by side in column format. You could go zipping down the listing to the issues that are important to you and actually see what they believe in. Crazy thoughts!
Can I get an Amen? The Obama Lift
I’ve been paying fairly close attention to the political races over the past year or so and have made note of how candidates change their various approaches to communicating their message, whatever it may be at that moment, considering they typically change from minute to minute, or if you are George Bush JUNIOR, in mid sentence, and have noticed a rather amusing change to Barack Obama.
First let me mention the other front runners. We’ll start with John McCain.
At moments I find McCain to be a patriot, which from a glance is always nice, but then at times I preceive him to be a war mongering scoundral. He comes across to me as someone who is caring around a bit of a grudge against anyone who may disagree with the United States of America. Don’t get me wrong, the guy has earned that right at least somewhat considering he spent something like 10 or 15 years in a prisoner of war camp. given that I have never even visited one I wouldn’t be able to describe the difference between one and the likes of a Holiday Inn. I can only assume that the prionser of war camp is most likely a trillion times worse than a Holiday Inn, and I once stayed at a Holiday Inn in Ft. Lauderdale Florida that was so grundy I slept on top of my dirty clothes. True story. Either way I am not so sure that at this point in time the United States needs someone in the Oval Office who is bent on the continual smashing of brown people, as George Carlin puts it. Tragically he has already won the nomination for the Republican party because apparently that is the best they have left to offer. Just wow.
So what about them Democrats? The race started with roughly a billion of them running and has come down to two. I mentioned Obama at the begining of this piece, and will end with him, but now for his opponent: Hillary Rodham Clinton, her middle name I seriously couldn’t make up. Hillary, oddly enough, is basically the female version of McCain with a seemingly lessened ability to stick to her story that El Presidente Bush, and that kiddies is saying quite a bit. First let me address her inability to woo me at all. When she speaks, and tries to deliver statements that are meant to invoke an emotional response from the crowd, warranting cheers and tears, she gets neither from me. Her husband, the blue dress messer Bill was a fantastic Orator, quite possibly the only thing the man did well, beyond keeping dry cleaners in business, and cigar makers. Face it the guy got credit for doing stuff he really had nothing to do with, like the techno-explosion of the Internet.
Back to Hilary. She lacks oomf. When Hubby spoke speach analysts used to brag about his delivery where with Hillary she comes across more like frump girl. I’ve noticed her hair gets more slicked back by each new iteration of the same speach and in turn her make up gets thicker. By now you are sitting there thinking “Good god Thraxxus, could you be more male? Focussing only on what many women find themselves being judged by, their looks!” Trust me that not my problem with her. I’d run out and sign up to vote for Roseanne Barr if I felt she had a great platform, however given her ability to even remember the lyrics to our national anthem I don’t see that happening any time soon. No my main problem with Hillary is her wishy washy attitude that sways with the breeze. she tried to come across as someone who wasn’t a politician, and the harder she tries the more she looks like the spitting image of one. Tragic really.
So what of Obama? I was having a conversation with Enigma one morning over a piping hot cup of Starbucks, you know them, the company that hates Palestinians, and we noticed something about Obama. Roughly 9-10 months ago Obama, whom I find to be an amazing orator, added something to his shtick that surprised me - a slight lift to his voice at the end of his sentences. This began to shape itself further into all parts of his speach patterns. don’t get me wrong, he hasn’t gone full blown Jesse Jackson on us, but he definately has the lift. One might think that I am against this for some reason, perhaps racially. In fact, I think its cool. I grew up in Southern California and thus the concept of racism is basically totally lost on me; I do however understand the Southern Baptist Black Preacher Stereotype that some people have, under hushed breath, labelled Obama with and I need to note that given the recent debacle regarding his church’s pastor I can only assume that Obama would not want that label. Either way I don’t care, I just like how the guy sounds. If you look at the field of horses you will note that he winnies the best.
Funniest part is this: I know what Mccain believes in; likewise I know what Clinton has said she believes in, from time to time, never really being consistant. The funny part is neither of them are really good at public speaking. Obama is a great public speaker except I really haven’t got a clue what the guy believes in, beyond the magical word he loves to use: Change. Perhaps he is right, it is what we need, change. Let’s start with our politicians.