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A Simple Election

Election 2008

Contributed by Shelby Powell on 4/16/08

Photo ops and idealized platforms; catch phrases and speeches worthy of Toast Master distinction; the accouterments of the amazing race to the White House rain on us from every media outlet alive. Every four years; the singers, actors and athletes take a back seat to the political dynamos begging to lead the country to new heights, or new thoughts or new lives. They are our fall superstars; courting the masses with razor sharp intelligence and all-encompassing understanding. Wearing their camera ready patriotism on their sleeves, they walk the thin line between commoner and Lord; hoping the duality will be apparent. It’s quite a spectacle. Yet, it has been the same spectacle since the advent of instant media; until now. Looking at the candidates in their simplest terms has become horribly un-pc. They are layered and complicated individuals with complexities galore. But, as we know, the simplest terms are what set this race apart form its predecessors.

A white guy, a black dude and a white chick walk onto the stage…

Almost sounds like the beginnings of a bad joke, doesn’t it?

If you vote Democratic, the general election this fall will present you with an opportunity no one prior to you has had. You will be the first in the history of this country to cast a ballet for either a woman or an African American. And those are the simplest terms. Your race or gender ideology aside, the pair before you is all you have.

Many scream foul in this election year. They believe the pair has had somewhat of a free ride. Fear of bias has created a bubble around them, allowing campaigning without the microscope. Kidd gloves have been the order of the day as poking too fiercely will brand the poker sexist or racist or some other –ist. The shape-shifting, agenda-setting types have found issues here and there to sit out front in an effort to pop the bubble, but for most they have been marked irrelevant. Her voice quivers when she speaks of the challenges of her quest. His Minister’s voice doesn’t quiver enough when he speaks of the nations fear of race relations. Yes, irrelevant.

It appears the apprehension of the media to tear into the candidates has allowed room for something to stand front and center that we haven’t seen before in a Presidential race, the issues facing the United States.

We live in a country that is dipping into recession’s territory. We live in a country where one major city boasts a 25% public high school graduation rate and several others follow closely behind. We live in a country where one out of nine black men between the ages of 18 and 34 is incarcerated. We live in a country where murder is the #1 killer of our youth. We live in a country that has sent its budding adults to fight and die in a war that has yet to be truthfully explained to us. And we live in a country that rarely questions relevance.

The country is now forced to take a long hard look at itself and what the past eight years have fostered. No, all of these problems did not surface during the Bush Administration, but they have grown exponentially uring his term. And no, our next President, regardless of their handle on syntax or the eloquence of their call for change, will not be able to repair all the damage done. But anyone who is willing to inherit the Bush legacy with a clear plan of attack has my vote. Race and gender concerns be damned; it is time for all of us to realize the current path this country is on is one to ruin. Millions without health insurance, foreign countries buying into our debt, corporations slashing their human resources to the bone; the “richest country in the world” going third world no longer sounds like science fiction.

So as you stand at that little plastic booth and pull the curtain this fall, keep in mind that you are doing more than fulfilling civic duty. And the person you vote for is more than the first of their kind, they are our only hope. Maybe the bad joke evoked earlier won’t be so bad after all. It might just be the preface of one of the greatest comebacks of the millennium; some black dude or some white chick leading us back from the brink because we saw past the exteriors to the ideas within. It does reek of ambition, but I don’t think you can get much simpler than that.