Recently, a fellow Zen reader reached out to me - requesting that I might impress (or distress) upon you - my political views on this coming presidential election. This person acknowledged that I don't typically discuss things of this nature around here, but that perhaps I could be persuaded to engage in this great conversation for the sake of...well, you know, it being REALLY REALLY IMPORTANT. And like bigger than any 'I have 3 holes?', 'Why the hell can't I conceive?', 'My dogs' farts are really bad', and all the other topics of pointless drivel often filling these pages.
My response was....that I won't 'go there' (because I'm afraid some Republican will come over here and chew me up and spit me out like a wad of Big League Chew)- but boy do I know someone who will! It gives me great pleasure, to have this as an excuse, to have Finding Zens first ever GUEST POSTER - and for that person to be the one and only...VERN OF BLOG FAME. My sharp shootin, get 'er done, whipper snapper of a mother-in-law - Vern. One of the smartest, most articulate, level-headed, generous, diplomatic, women I know. She has been an inspiration to me in the five short years we've shared, and I have a tremendous amount of respect for her opinion. So without further adieu...I give you...The Vernster. My response would be (and not because I'm not a free-thinking articulate individual myself....but because she just knows this shit better)...YEAH! WHAT SHE SAID! Go Obama!
I dreamed I was looking for a job last night and I couldn't find one anywhere. I really needed one to pay my bills. Everyone I knew, that would be a sure bet to help me out, told me the same thing. They were looking, too, and having no luck. Odd dream. I retired this past June and have (seemingly) no financial worries. We won't be diverted by the fact that I woke up this morning to hear that Lehman had failed and that my dream had occurred on what was now being called "Black Sunday." It did lead me to wonder how these times feel to younger people. Just out of college, just married, just entering the job market, changing jobs, trying to stay home and raise children. Having been through a number of "downturns" in the market, a very foreign notion to folks just trying to pay their bills, but one that impacts them even if at a distance, I can tell you that these are worrisome times.
My mind wandered to that old commercial. They dress this really cool guy up and put him in a convertible Oldsmobile and say "This is not your father's Oldsmobile." REALLY? Looks just like it to me...but who's the dude driving. Now THAT is new. I would say they were trying to put "lipstick on a pig" but I think that has been causing trouble lately so I will avoid that old saying. No real change, just the same old car. Well folks, this is not your father's election. At no time in my life have I felt that who we elect has such grave consequences for us as a nation. After eight years of a president that many chose because they thought he would be a great guy "to have a beer with," I can tell you that I wish I had offered to pay for them to drink with him so he would have stayed out of the White House. It is truly a time for a changing of the guard..not that they have guarded much but the price of oil and THEIR right to privacy. It is more than that. It is time for the next generation to take over. From MY generation. Odd feeling....but true. We are out of touch with technology, "might" no longer makes "right" (if it ever did) and going to war no longer solves anything (if it ever did.)
Since last September I have had three Obama workers living in my basement....consecutively....not all together. They have been bright, hard working and informed. I have not met Obama, but if those are the people of his choosing...I am ready to turn it over to him. He has paid school loans, he has lived in a family that could barely make ends meet. He has worked in communities that are homes to some of our most disadvantaged citizens. But in the end, the most important thing a president can do is choose smart people to surround him, and then listen to their counsel. I am terrified of the old ways. They don't work anymore and we are mired in a war that has lasted almost twice as long as the Second World War. The economy is in the tank folks. It is going to effect everyone's job before long. We desperately need new leadership and the way we have always changed our system is by voting.
I am sick of the details. I don't care who babysits for Sarah Palin. I care that the majority of her experience is as mayor of Wasilla, Alaska with a budget of $6 million dollars and 53 employees, and that her foreign policy experience is that "I [she] can see Russia from my house." I visited Russia last year for two weeks and I can tell you folks, you do not want me for your next VP.
I am sorry that McCain was held hostage in Hanoi. But that does not mean that I want a 74 year old man, wit recurring Melanoma, who has NEVER, read: not one single time, held a job that was not funded by the government. In fact, he has never lived in a family headed by anyone who was not on the government payroll (unless he considers his wife, Cindy, the head of his household.) Her car tags read "Miss Bud" as she has inherited a beer distributorship. He does not know what it felt like to be in my dream and looking everywhere for a job to pay my bills! When he graduated from the Naval Academy he was given a red Corvette and sent to Florida.
All the polls show that we select our president by emotions. How in the HELL can we be more emotional about who we drink a flippin' beer with than who will be in charge of jobs, gas prices, wars that take the lives of our young men and women? HELLO...is anyone out there???
-Vern
