Slip of the Tongue

We want our politicians to be perfect. They have to purer than the average American. They have to be so safe that they are told by their handlers not to say anything stupid. George Allen made a slip and called one S.R. Sidarth, a political science major from Virginia, "macaca", a particular odd slur, that seems only offensive if you are from the Belgian Congo. Strange that Allen would use that, that you almost believe he really did make it up, and yet, given it's context, it seemed like a slur, made up or not.

This slur was enough to derail the Allen campaign, because it seemed like Allen wanted to bond with what he must have perceived as white trash, who wanted a little insult to someone with brown skin to make him seem like a good old boy. And Democrats were perfectly happy to have him slip up, even if one might prefer that Allen simply lose because people don't like his political stances.

Justin realized that such incidents make it tough for politicians to say what's on their mind, because every word is scrutinized, observed, and telecast in the blogosphere, in the Web 2.0 world via YouTube and other video sources.

We let our politicians be defined by others so that we don't have to think too hard. To do the research to find out about such-and-such is tough. Mind you, this is why we have political parties, so that the party affiliation can serve as a shorthand to describe someone, because political handlers note that the electorate is generally stupid, or as least, lack the time to really assess candidates in any meaningful way.

Barack Obama just threw his hat in the ring. He's ready to run for office with a mere four years of senatorial experience. Yet, he has one thing that works in his favor. No, not that's he's the most acceptable brown skin candidate to run in, well, ever. It's his ability to craft words. In this soundbite nation, where any thought rambling more than ten seconds is dropped from a politician's rhetoric, Obama's skill at speaking may draw inspiration.

Whether this translates to political success or not, we'll see.

Justin figures this is Al Gore's time. Al Gore came out with An Inconvenient Truth and has stayed out of the limelight for a bit since then. He can afford to wait, even join in at the last moment, depending on how Obama fares.

Democrats might be willing to give Gore a second chance, some twenty years after Gore first ran. He lacks the strong negatives of Hillary. He has the experience Obama lacks. And if he runs with Obama as his VP, he'll have the kind of one-two punch that he sorely lacked with Lieberman who has suddenly become a Republican in action, if not in name. The Republicans, at this point, seem to lack a credible opponent.

McCain, the maverick that tried to detail Bush with his campaign finance reform, was instead sucked into the Republican machinery made to do what the Bush campaign wanted him to do so that he would be the anointed one, the Lebron James of the Republican world, the Anakin Skywalker, and like poor Ani, he seems destined to have his legs cut from underneath him (ah, isn't it great to invoke Star Wars?).

Campaigns are all about the talk, aren't they? It's words that get people elected (that and hate campaigns).

Oh, oh, I've been reading about this instant runoff voting where you rank candidates from 1 to N, and then toss out the loser at each round, until a majority is formed. Given the nature of hate ads, I say that we do something different, which is to vote against the person we don't want. Given that most candidates are hum-drum, this is what voting seems to have been reduced to. Thus, people who vote ABB (anyone but Bush) instead of feeling passionate about their candidate (e.g., Kerry).

Speak now, or forever hold your peace.