Wednesday, December 10, 2003
The big news in politics is that Al Gore endorsed Howard Dean. I haven't decided who I'm voting for yet, but I found a little humor in that it's a big deal that the person I didn't want as the Democratic nominee last time is endorsing a candidate who, so far, I don't want to be the Democratic nominee this time. Frankly, I doubt Howard Dean will be able to win the election if he gets the nomination. Most people on the left will vote Democrat and most people on the right will vote Republican, which leaves the middle of the road to be important to who gets elected. Bill Clinton was good at getting the middle vote, which especially wasn't hard against Bob Dole. Al Gore never seemed to even try to court the middle. Personally, Gore lost my vote in 2000 with his performance at the first debate. And, from what I've seen, Dean is too far to the left for me. I'm still undecided, though, so maybe that all will change. I hope so. It'd be nice to have a candidate convince me to vote for him rather than the usual "lesser of two or more evils".
One thing I worry about in the 2004 election is that it'll be like the 2000 elections. The primaries in PA are late, so in 2000 Bush and Gore had both locked up the nomination a full month before the PA primary. This means I was stuck with two candidates that I had no say in choosing.
What I really want for a presidential candidate is someone who doesn't want to be president. Think about it. It is a job which requires millions of dollar to be spent for a job which pays in the low six figures. The president's background is exposed and scrutinized. The same goes for every single member of his families. Even if there's nothing in his background that is bad, people will make stuff up and he has to prove that things that didn't really happen didn't really happen. He is attacked non-stopped verbally and needs around the clock security. The job is filled with no-win decisions. You have to be crazy to want to be president. I want someone to step up and say he (or she) doesn't want to be president but is running because he (or she) wants what's best for the country and the other candidates are not it.
But that will never happen. So I will settle for someone who is willing to go against his own party and side with the other if that is what is best. That doesn't happen often because in the end, it's the party that gets the candidate elected and it's tough to bite the hand that feeds. For now, I'm going to be following the various candidates and hopefully, come November, I won't be looking up who the Libertarian candidate is.
One thing I worry about in the 2004 election is that it'll be like the 2000 elections. The primaries in PA are late, so in 2000 Bush and Gore had both locked up the nomination a full month before the PA primary. This means I was stuck with two candidates that I had no say in choosing.
What I really want for a presidential candidate is someone who doesn't want to be president. Think about it. It is a job which requires millions of dollar to be spent for a job which pays in the low six figures. The president's background is exposed and scrutinized. The same goes for every single member of his families. Even if there's nothing in his background that is bad, people will make stuff up and he has to prove that things that didn't really happen didn't really happen. He is attacked non-stopped verbally and needs around the clock security. The job is filled with no-win decisions. You have to be crazy to want to be president. I want someone to step up and say he (or she) doesn't want to be president but is running because he (or she) wants what's best for the country and the other candidates are not it.
But that will never happen. So I will settle for someone who is willing to go against his own party and side with the other if that is what is best. That doesn't happen often because in the end, it's the party that gets the candidate elected and it's tough to bite the hand that feeds. For now, I'm going to be following the various candidates and hopefully, come November, I won't be looking up who the Libertarian candidate is.
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