A Modest Proposal

My enthusiasm for this primary has quickly subsided. While I still believe we have two Democratic candidates who would greatly help the US, I’m sick of this process. As I started watching debates back when Gravel and Kucinich were invited, it’s been TEN MONTHS of them. Anyone who cares to know where the differences in policy are already knows them. The only thing left to do is to rehash old lines, artificial stereotypes, and campaign blunders. It’s all contrived dramatics, ensuring that we’ll elect the best candidate and not the best president. And frankly, people who are good at being candidates kind of scare me.

Why can’t we make this easier? Why can’t we have a national primary, for crying out loud? Why can’t the rules be the same for both parties? Why can't we have a series of specific debates (foreign policy, economy, social issues, etc.) leading to one stinkin’ primary? Instead, this primary is all over the place. The Republican primary with its winner-takes-all approach ensures a quicker nomination. The Democratic one (holy monkey, what the hell? superdelegates?) ensures that this will go on until both candidates have smeared each other to a point of unelectability in November. As much as the Republican party makes me want to cry, they’ve got strategy. Watching the Dems is like watching a school play put on by kindergarteners. They sure are cute, but after a while, it just becomes painful.

And the sexism so engrained in coverage of Hillary Clinton makes me ill. We call men by their last names and women by their first. When Clinton shows emotion, we think she’s unhinged and wonder “which Hillary will show up today” (because if a woman is happy one day and upset the next, she’s hormonal or bipolar – she couldn’t possibly have legitimate grievances). This nation still fears a woman with opinions. People conclude that we’re more sexist than racist, but Obama doesn’t exude the same assertiveness that his opponent does. If the bodies were switched, Obama would be seen as an angry black man and Clinton would be a woman of the people. When dealing with women and minorities, the award goes to the most pleasing, not the most deserving. That is appalling. And unfortunately, that is our Democratic primary.

But seriously… having one national primary… what am I missing? Why don’t we do this?

I miss Edwards and Kucinich. sighhhh.