Are you tired of politics yet?
This presidential campaign thus far has been exhausting to watch. In the wake of it all, there seems to be a fair majority fed up with President Bush and the Republican Party. So perhaps it’s time for a change. A change we can believe in. Like a Democratic president. Let us bow down and all hail the party of fairness and social justice to save our financial and emotional well beings. It starts with the candidates.
But are these candidates of the Democratic Party really what they seem to be? Is Hillary Clinton really just an average American who cares about the middle class? She does down shots with hard-working men and women after work, just like every average American might do.
But what about the fact that she and her husband have collected $100 million from appearances, book sales and other sources of revenue since Bill left office? How about her Yale education? There’s nothing too average about that kind of money or that college degree. It makes you wonder whether she really knows what’s best for the “average” American when nothing about her lifestyle has been average at all.
What about Obama? He really knows what’s best for this country, right? He understands the middle class and the average American. He’s out to stimulate change and to unite us all in peace and harmony.
Never mind the fact that he secretly feels that those average people cling to guns and religion when they’re bitter at the world. Karl Marx once said that religion is the “opiate of the masses.” Is that ironic considering Obama’s collegiate affinity for communism and his record of having voted the most liberally of all the senators? How can you unite a country split in half if you’re so far to one side of that spectrum? Not all of us are ignorant enough to be smooth-talked into your faulty socialist ideal, Barack.
When these candidates first surfaced as the leading two, it seemed brilliant. The Democrats could advocate social and economic change in a time of economic hardship by convincing the dumb masses that the rich weren’t paying their fair share (while the top 1 percent of earners paid 40 percent of all income taxes in 2005) and easily seal the deal over a faltering Republican party. They were set.
Even better was the fact they advocated change and physically embodied such change at the same time. A woman and a black man were the symbols of the “optimistic,” Democratic future and were running against an old white man, a symbol of the “unfortunate,” Republican past. Even the most right of right must admit that this brilliant marketing strategy has worked … until now.
We’re seeing theses candidates’ true colors. Hillary continues to make up lies on a daily basis (“I’ve been sniped at” and “I love my husband”) and Obama is living a lie himself (“God DAMN America”). Hillary can’t seem to keep her mouth shut and Obama can’t seem to hide his suspiciously un-American past. And in no way can they or any prominent politician relate to the “average American” since they’re all wealthy elitists themselves at the core.
Republican John McCain is not the most ideal man for president either. He hasn’t had the best word choice, specifically in saying the U.S. military presence in Iraq might take 100 years. He’s not even the most genuine of the candidates running (Ron Paul takes that prize).
But McCain isn’t hiding a real estate scandal like Hillary or a racist preacher like Obama. McCain tends to remember when he’s really been shot at as a former POW.
McCain doesn’t insult his voters, and he’s not entirely out of touch with some of them either. Since he himself is a high earner and can relate to the government taking unreasonable amounts of what he earns, he can empathize with the wealthier Americans who make up a segment of his voter base. Plus, McCain is a moderate who can appeal to all Americans through real policy and not just eloquent language.
Hillary and Obama are far from what they claim to be. They dream of redistributing wealth to the working middle class, what they conceive as being the real foundation of America. This is despite the fact that neither one of them has ever lived an average lifestyle and never will really work paycheck to paycheck. Based on their lifestyles, can we know they really understand the middle class or is that just part of the political game they play?
Perhaps America has jumped too quickly to support something that looks like change but is really baseless in guiding principle. America has too quickly placed its faith in the change a minority can bring over an old, white man and translated that as a change to a better future for America when the candidates’ policies don’t necessarily indicate that.
Democrats were hoping we’d just judge this book by its pretty cover.
They’re finding that we’re actually reading it.
— Oliver Casey is a sophomore in enterprise management. He can be reached at [email protected].
