What People Pay Attention To

When looking at the two presidential candidates--John McCain and Barack Obama--I see night and day. Coming from the inherent restraints of a two-party system these guys could hardly have more different world views and policy proposals. Considering the mess George Bush and gotten us into and how closely McCain's proposed policies match with Bush's current policies, I simply cannot understand how people can even consider voting for McCain. Do they really want another four years of Bush?!?!

I have enough faith in the electorate that I believe that is not the case. What has happened, is that instead of focusing on their significant policy differences, the mainstream media focuses on lapel pins, gaffes, and preachers. What this does is muddy the many differences between the candidates.

I've been mulling this over in my head for months and came across this blog post over at my favorite blog Political Animal. Below is an excerpt:

Personally, I think being wrong about official US policy towards Iran, and about whether recent history shows that negotiating with them won't work, is more serious than being wrong about precisely which Nazi concentration camp your great-uncle helped liberate. But then, I also think that at a time when we are involved in two wars, our standing in the world is as low as it has been in recent memory, we have jettisoned our commitment to basic human rights and the rule of law, our economy is tanking, our currency seems to be in free-fall, the energy crisis has finally (and predictably) hit home with a vengeance, food and commodity prices are soaring world-wide, our health insurance system could most charitably be described as badly frayed, our infrastructure seems to be crumbling around us, and a whole lot of people are looking at losing their homes -- at a time like this, there are better things to talk about than flag pins, pastors, and the real explanation for Hillary Clinton's RFK moment.

Honestly: if this campaign is decided on those sorts of issues, we deserve what we get. It's just a pity our election will affect so many other people, who don't.

Oregon Gets Attention!

In Oregon we're pretty far off the beaten political map: not an early voting state like Iowa or New Hampshire, not a big state with lots of clout like California, Texas, or New York, and not a "battleground" state like Ohio, Pennsylvania, Colorado, or Florida. We've accepted our role, relegated to the status of that forgotten kid in high school who everyone likes but forgets about.

This year, as we all know, is different. First Barack came to town. Bill followed shortly after. Hillary came to Oregon two weeks ago. Last week I started noticing Obama radio ads. Chelsea Clinton was in Corvallis on Saturday. Yesterday I saw my first Obama TV ad.

It begs the question: Should we feel flattered or used? Never relevant, we were ignored with impressive absolutism. You'd think by accident some major party presidential candidate would have dropped in and realized, "Whoops, I missed California by a few miles!" This year is a different story. Back to the high school analogy: Isn't this like senior year when the popular kid, who ignored Little Jimmy since 2nd grade, finally needs something and swoops down with the charm turned on high? Jimmy, don't get used!!!!

I guess we all know what happens. Just as Jimmy happily obliges and enjoys the attention, however brief, we will do the same here in Oregon.