The contests between candidates for public office are often referred to as “horse races,” but the analogy seems kind of inapt.  I’ve never seen anybody vilify the horse they weren’t betting on or armchair quarterback the race and how the jockey should have run it.  No, we treat our candidates like we treat our football teams.  We pledge allegiance to them and start fist-fights at the end of the game, win or lose.

            My father is a reflex republican.  He chose his team and his haircut in 1952 and has stuck with both ever since.  I have every confidence he’s voted a straight ticket all his life. Yeah, he claims he voted for Wallace instead of Nixon, but he didn’t make that claim until after Watergate and he gets 1968 and 1972 confused, so we don’t really believe him.  A staunch union man in the IBEW, he strongly believes that all unions are part of the international communist conspiracy.  He refers to the local paper as the “red rag” yet he reads it everyday and clips articles and sends them to me.  He has nothing good to say about bible-thumping evangelicals except when they’re running for office with an R after their names.  He can’t help himself. It’s all reflex.  It’s his team, right or wrong.

            I’m not a sports guy.  I don’t watch games live or on TV.  I have all the ESPN’s blocked on my TV.  I’m also not much of a political junkie.  I have all the cable news channels and CSPAN channels blocked, too.  This whole “my team’s better than your team” BS eludes me and all the cheerleader chattering and “analysis” bores me to tears.

            And yet the “my team is better than your team” theme has been a constant in the Democratic primary.  Hillary fans complain about fouls from Obama’s Team while ignoring their own team’s transgressions and, likewise, Obama fans dis on Hillary’s team and engage in name calling and abuse that they won’t tolerate from team Hillary.  It’s turned what should be a discussion of ideas into a free-for-all about flag pins and pants suits.  It’s reflexive behavior that’s no different than my dad ranting about FDR while he stands in line to cash his Social Security check.

            When my wife first heard that Hillary Clinton was going to run for President, however many months ago that was, she emphatically stated that there was NO WAY IN HELL she’d vote for her.  I had just about managed to talk her down and we were both fully prepared to vote for her when Iowa happened.  Then the Race in America Speech happened. 

I have been a registered Independent since 1976.  I voted for Republicans; I voted for John Anderson in 1980; I’ve vote Democrat; I’ve voted Green.  But I’ve always steadfastly remained a registered Independent. This year I switched to the Democratic Party so I could vote for Obama in the Oregon Primary.  It wasn’t easy for me and I would not have switched for Clinton.

            I was never on the Hillary team, but I was never against her, either.  Her core values were close enough to mine that I could support her.  I was deeply disappointed in how the Clinton campaign was run, but I still like Hillary.  I enjoy watching her interact with people.  I am absolutely with her on health care and some of her other core issues.  And I respect a woman who can probably out drink me (and can, by all accounts, out drink John McCain).

            Ultimately we can’t let this be about team loyalty.  It has to be about the core issues.  It has to be about thinking versus acting reflexively.  We need to stop framing this as a friggin’ football game.  The metaphor is too distracting and doesn’t represent what’s really at stake.