I've been half-heartedly following the buildup to today's Texas primary in the newspapers, and soon I'll shrug off my cold symptoms long enough to vote. The polling place is only a little over a mile from where I live, so for me, voting is easy enough that I can't rationalize skipping it.
Texans like to think of themselves as manly men, ruggedly individualistic and larger than life. Unlike most civilized people, they really enjoy trying to live up to their stereotypes. In fact, I've observed this state is filled with narcissists. For the first time in recent memory, Texas is holding a primary that might have a little significance in the overall scheme of things politically, and you'd think from the breathless coverage in the state's major newspapers that we were the center of the universe.
In 2000, I voted for John McCain in the Republican primary. At the time, I admired him and wanted him to be president. It wasn't a crossover "mischief" vote; I understood the reality that W was headed for a decisive win. But I voted for McCain as a matter of principle, because I thought he'd be a good president.
In 2004, I voted in the Democratic primary. The pro forma vote would've been for Kerry, but again I voted on principle, this time for Wesley Clark. I was convinced Clark had the potential to be the best president in my lifetime, and had the credentials to give W the kind of ass-whippin' he'd earned.
Now, it's 2008 and John McCain is set to become the next president. Times have changed, and McCain's behavior over the last seven years has opened my eyes. I'm seeing him as he is, not as I want him to be, and I know he'll never be the president I hoped for in 2000. Right now, I'm just hoping he'll be better than Rudi, Willard, Ferd, or Hucklebuck would've been.
Unless I change my mind in the next few hours, I'll vote for Obama in the Dem primary today. The Dems are headed for a trainwreck of massive proportions in November, one that will probably spell the end for Democrats as an important force in American politics. I expect the popular vote will be reasonably close, maybe along the lines of 51-49, but the Electoral College will be a wipeout. My best guess is that a lot of states that were barely blue for Kerry last time will go red in 2008. The longer Hillbillary slugs it out with Obama, the more likely it seems that differences between the camps become irreconcilable and large numbers of independents say to hell with both of 'em. The Clinton Death Wish will finally be realized on a national scale.
Addendum-same day, much later: My wife and I arrived at our polling place today at about noon, and headed for the Democratic primary tables. One of the ladies there turned out to be a neighbor that my wife recognized from seeing her walk her dog near our house. She got us signed in and invited us to attend the precinct caucus scheduled to begin at 7:15 pm tonight.
I like to pontificate about politics, obviously, but my active involvement over the years has pretty much been confined to voting and watching election returns on television. I was totally unfamiliar with the caucus procedures, so wife and I talked it over and decided we'd check it out.
We arrived back at the polling place around 7:20 pm, and I was surprised to find the parking lot full of cars. Inside, there were long lines of people waiting to sign declarations for either Hillary or Obama. In the mix were people of all shapes and sizes, races, and genders. I was amazed... I didn't know there were that many Democrats in the whole f--ing county, much less a single precinct.
At any rate, the process of collecting signatures took roughly an hour. We were standing behind a handsome young man named Eric, a doctoral candidate in computer science at The Big School. Eric was as bright as you'd expect, and had enough knowledge about the party caucus process that he could explain what was happening to the wife and me. After about an hour, the precinct officer in charge announced more than 100 people had attended, with the declarations split approximately 60-40 in Obama's favor. At that point, since I wasn't interested in choosing delegates to the county convention or serving as one, we headed for the parking lot. One more new experience to write about here. It's nice to know a man my age can still find new things to do.
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