Thursday, October 09, 2008

I Miss Mike Huckabee

This is the first time I have ever voted or even really paid attention to a political election.  I have no experience in political science, campaign marketing or political history.  So I will be the first to admit that the idea of me offering advice to the experts probably seems a little… pretentious?  Laughable?  However…

Like most bloggers, that doesn’t stop me from running my ... keyboard.

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Dear Senator McCain,

I’m fairly certain that you are going to lose this election.  This was going to be a tough one for the Pubs to win from the get-go, but I think you royally screwed up.

You’re an interesting paradox of being eternally stuck in the past, yet refusing to learn from it.  All your honor and examples of your upstanding and sacrificial character come from many, many years ago.  What about NOW?  You seem to have changed, even since the 2000 election.  You have run a smear campaign despite vows against it.  Stories about your honor are tough to swallow when followed immediately by deliberate distortions of the truth.  You are correct that you “won’t win Miss Congeniality,” but not for the reasons you profess.

In the past, politicians owned the information, but that has changed.  You can’t mangle and reshape facts to suit your purposes and think nobody is going to notice.  Who wants a president that talks in such a way that everything he says has to be called into question? 

Your behavior has been erratic and reactionary.  People don’t know what to expect from you.  THAT IS NOT A GOOD THING.  Despite mediocre (and declining) approval ratings, George W. Bush beat John Kerry in the last election - an election that should have been a handover to the Democrats.  WHY?  Because Kerry completely failed at establishing himself, his stances and his plans.  His central message of, “I’m not Bush” wasn’t good enough.  He was an unknown, and the public decided that they would stick with Bush because even if they doubted him, at least they knew what they were getting.

You watched the showdown between Obama and Hillary Clinton.  You saw Clinton throw the same kinds of mud-slinging, distortionary, smear campaign tactics that ruled politics in previous elections.  And they didn’t work for her.  Why then, do you think they’re going to work for you???  Learn from the past.  Don’t stay stuck in it.  The race has changed.

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Dear Governor Palin,

I think you have an interesting political career ahead of you once you get some more legitimate experience.  I say go for it, but I don’t think having John McCain as a mentor is going to help you.  His tactics don’t work for you.

Also, it saddens me to hear reports (from Republicans, no less) that you’re being treated “like a secretary” by the McCain camp.  I hate to say that I called it.  I was hoping to be wrong.

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Dear Senator Obama,

I’m predicting that you’re going to have a pretty big win, unless McCain can pull some kind of 11th hour miracle.  But I’m also predicting that you will be under a lot of pressure to fix things in a very short time span.  The country is going to put trust in your “Change” message, but our trust is usually tentative and even the most optimistic supporters can turn on a dime if things don’t meet their expectations.

We’re Americans.  We have high expectations.

If, after 3 years, there hasn’t been significant progress (just “progress” will not be enough), I’m betting the Republicans will be booting you out of the White House the next time around.  I hope you’re up for the challenge.