We Did Get Fooled Again

If another country, pick any one in the European Union for instance, were to glance at the major contenders for president of the United States, they might be enticed to give the US a shout out on the quality and diversity of the candidates. There may indeed have been some quality there. If you've gotten to a place in your political career where you can have a viable shot at the presidency then you must have done something right along the way.

But was there really diversity? Or was it the same old song and dance done by a new breed of performers? Certainly, there was a superficial diversity: a woman, a black man, and a white man who wouldn't get carded when asking for a senior discount when going to the movies.

The key word here is "superficial": the three main players appeared different. Before Hillary Clinton no woman has gotten as close as she at becoming the first female president. Clinton was the first viable female candidate, combining a first rate intelligence with a steely toughness. But other than a lack of testicles (physically, not attitudinally) Clinton was no different really from any other Democratic candidate, she was just the one with the chutzpah to beat back all other contenders save for the senator from Illinois. Also, aside from the fact that her ideas weren't particularly original, she had what in this case was the misfortune of name recognition. America finally seems to have had enough of two political families: the Bushes and the Clintons. Since 1980, someone with those names has been running for either president or vice-president. Unfortunately for Hillary, this was the year We said "enough".

John McCain is thought of as a maverick in the Republican party, mostly because he is not, like the rest of the Congressional Republicans, an automaton who toes the party line 100% of the time. He occasionally votes his conscience, and his conscience has an independent streak. For the most part though, no matter how he sometimes tries to distance himself from the failures of the current Bush in the White House, McCain is just another Republican who will favor Big Business, which is not necessarily a bad thing unless it's to the detriment of the American people, and these days Big Business (and Medium Business and Little Business, too) don't seem to care too much about the fate of the America, especially it's Middle Class. While there is a certain erratic quality to McCain's nature that I find appealing, he's been keeping crazy, angry Grandpa John locked in the attic for most of the campaign, and that's too bad. That was the McCain who might on occasion do the right thing. Controlled politician McCain will do and say what will get him elected.

Speaking of doing and saying anything to get elected, there can be no bigger disappointment in this election cycle than Barack Obama. He emerged from the shadowy mists of Chicago as an Agent of Change, speaking about Hope and how the old way of doing business in Washington would be no more. He was endorsed by members of the Kennedy family because Obama seemed to have the Kennedy qualities of hopefulness and enthusiasm about him. Sadly, Dr. Jekyll turned into Mr. Hyde last week and, unfortunately for US, Mr. Hyde seems to be the real Obama. In a flip-flop of epic, and possibly disastrous, proportions Obama voted for the new surveillance law, a measure he previously opposed. This was done out of political expediency. Obama knew if he voted against the bill, the Republicans would make an it a national security issue during the campaign, and that's an area Obama doesn't feel is his strong point. However, having committed himself with this vote to spying on American citizens, we should all be thankful that we can now see Obama for what he is: an opportunist, full of Hopeful, empty rhetoric.

After the disappointment that Bill Clinton was, and the mean spirited George W. Bush administration, Americans were ready for sunny talk about changing the climate of politics. We had been fooled by Bill and duped into fear and loathing by W., so we were hoping not to get fooled again. But we were. And now we're stuck.