If you felt nothing while listening to the concession and acceptance speeches, check your pulse.  You might be dead.

If McCain had managed to speak as eloquently during the campaign, he might have convinced a few more voters.  Provided, of course, if he had had something worth listening to.  Tuesday night's farewell speech was probably the best he ever gave, reminiscent of Gore in 2000.  Both McCain and Gore were riveting as they said farewell, much more so than on the stump.  Could it be that instead of disappointment, they were secretly relieved?

As for the victor, this has been a hard-fought battle.  Two years of campaigning have aged him.  But despite his weariness, Obama gave an acceptance speech which was warm, but thankfully free of artifice.  He knows that he has a terrible job ahead of him.  He might have been the only one in the audience who really understood it. 

It's fortunate that he has amassed a huge reserve of popular sentiment; he's going to need it.    

 

AP reported yestereday that Peter Frampton, irritated that his Obama signs were being lifted from the lawn, called The Cincinnati Enquirer and requested to be interviewed so he could voice his oh-so-special complaint.

Not that he hasn't a legitimate beef, but why must we endure their constant demands for privilege?  Isn't it enough that we have to suffer their endorsements?

Here's a sign that should surely make him the darling of his GOP neighborhood 

Is this all there is?  Being outted as a Republican because of Budweiser?  Thank God I gave up Cheetos years ago otherwise I might be lynched.

After noting the brands that Landor Associates paired with each candidate, I was puzzled.  Since when has the GOP been linked with the blue collar man driving his truck to Wal-Mart?   Aren't all Republicans money-grubbing racial purists who spend their cash on imported luxury goods and conservative causes? 

Brand association has me worried.  What if I'm spotted talking on my iPhone while munching Terra Chips?  Will someone burn a cross on my lawn?  Or, what if I'm spied at a McDonald's drive-through in my beat-up GMC Sierra?   Will I find the doors of my small business closed because I failed to buy 'raffle tickets' from my local alderman?

Maybe I'll just walk and carry my lunch from home. 

 

 

 

   

For all of you despairing over lack of tickets to Chicago's Barack-apalooza, why not venture to northwest Indiana?  The man of the hour has scheduled an appearance on Halloween night in what arguably could be the scariest place on earth. According to local radio station WJOB, www.heyregion.com,  a local rally will be held in Highland at Wicker Park.  Costumes are optional.

When did party loyalty take precedence over national interest?  It must have started with Jefferson, who was not at all happy being John Adams' wingman.  Indeed, just think of that  scenario happening today... The endless bickering, the back stabbing and dealmaking behind closed doors if instead of Joe Biden, McCain was forced onto Obama as VP.  Or Obama onto McCain for that matter...

Funnier yet, picture the media frenzy...  the rivals shaking hands and making nice for photo ops, muttering through their teeth about how each has hamstrung the other, vowing to take revenge in the next election, all the while duping the public with contrived declarations of unity and mutual respect.   It almost sounds like a high-profile celebrity divorce. 

Yesterday, a campaign worker casually asked my political affiliation.  After reluctantly sharing it and enduring his smirks of contempt, he immediately engaged me in debate.  "Your candidate isn't doing too well, is he?"  He seemed a little triumphant.  "Why do you even bother?"

I couldn't help but remember the bullies on the school playground.  It always seemed safer to stay in their favor, if only to avoid a pummeling.  They were victorious on the field of battle because they were bigger, stronger and meaner, but they rarely had the interests of others at heart.  They were self-seeking and not terribly smart, but with their fists they ruled without dispute.  And nobody challenged them, at least nobody who valued their safety.  They operated unchecked until natural order weeded them out and they drifted into anonymity.  

But the legacy they left us is permanent:  to the victor goes the spoils.  There was no equitable distribution of power or privilege when the schoolyard bully assumed his role.  Nor does this happen now when one or the other candidate assumes office.

It must be a flaw in human nature.  Why do we mimic the behavior of our oppressor?     

 

This is an announcement to all the well-meaning, but block-headed volunteers who have given so unselfishly of their time to knock on doors and browbeat the inhabitants therein with their agenda:  Kindly stop ringing the bell; it gives me a headache.

Furthermore, in the future, it would be wise to send out literate volunteers.  The ones who show up on the porch have had trouble reading the No Soliciting or Proselytizing placard.

It's punishment enough that the Baptists and Jehovah Witnesses ring the bell.  Must I be forced to listen to the earnest entreaties of campaign volunteers determined to save my soul from Republican damnation?  I know McCain is an idiot; there's no need to remind me.

 

 

 

With all the hairsplitting, who actually distances themselves far enough to see that the candidates have more in common than not?  I don't know to whom (or what) Obama and McCain are beholden, but I suspect it isn't to their constituencies.