Talk to me!
can you please warn me when you are going to throw down with something this profound?
flutter- sorry, there's such a fine line between profound and crap that I often can't tell the difference
Fucking torrid.
I probably don't mean torrid, but that's the word that was written on the subway walls of my head just now.
I had the longest comment ever in response to this but for once I am going to exercise my better judgment and not post it, because I don't think it would be welcome.
So I will just say that people who might vote differently from you also care about their children, and about the future. It is arrogant to suggest otherwise. While lovely in many ways, your poeticizing of the political is also what turns me off and makes me wary. Politicians are not to be poets only, they must be more than that, so very much more. 'Hope' and 'change' are the belles of your ball I suspect - looking lovely tonight, but have you seen them after their mascara starts running?
Fabulous post.
I've often wondered about the others -- those that voted in GWB for a second term. Who are they?
I don't think it's arrogance to want what's best for our kids. And to want to make the world a better place for them.
I have hope but it's tainted with a not-so healthy dose of cynicism. Sigh. But hope is a new thing... (my thoughts from North of the Border.)
I agree with Amelia. Don't know any voters who don't care about their kids.
Cynisism runs through my veins and it burns Hot like someone hooked me up to a Kerosene mainline. I look at the state of the World, and then at the Pure faces of my girls and I want to sink the Winged Victory to the bottom of the Atlantic and push the Elderly down the stairs.
I Hope I'm proven wrong. There's that word again....
Hope.
Damnit. Now I need Beer.
Would McCain be coming for the children himself, or might he send someone like Schwarzenegger? Because I wouldn't mind meeting Arnold.
Backpacking Dad- I'll take torrid.
Amelia- It's my blog. I'm entitled to be arrogant here. Especially when I'm right.
Nat- I know some people that voted for GWB the second time around. They're mostly on the run.
KC- The bottom line is that McCain wants to follow a path of more war, financial risk, unfunded education and neglected healthcare. That doesn't seem pro-family to me. I won't even mention his blatant disregard for science and the environment.
cIII- I'm not sure when Hope became a bad word. Drink up.
Darren- McCain will be sending Cheney.
It must be the fact that I have been Obamatized that I didn't pick up that you were insinuating that McCain supporters don't care about their kids. What I read was that a big part of WHY you support Obama is because of what you hope for for your kids and the future.
I'm continually flabbergasted by those keep harping on Obama and his "hope campaign" as something to scoff at. Change starts with us. And frankly, we could all use a big dose of hope.
Sizzle- I wasn't insinuating that parents didn't care about their kids, people just ran with that. I said supporting the programs of McCain are bad for the future, and when I think of the future I think of the children (hey, my name is Whitney after all).
political and poetic...
Whatever you guys agree to disagree on, I hope you get a good medical system, because that shit is crazy not to have for your kids AND you.
Nice to meet you Whit.
Amelia- It's not an attack, it's a plea.
Mantra- You're right, that is a very big problem in our country. I hope it can be fixed.
Likewise.
Those are some pretty strong words, my friend. I absolutely agree with Amelia that your comments might have been taken as arrogant. No worries. I still heart you even if you do Twitter about hitting me in the crotch for supporting McCain. Just remember real men don’t ever hit women—even if they’re Republican. (smile)
So I'm hoping a variety of perspectives are welcome here, so to your comment:
Of course people who have different views think of their children. Every day. Every minute of every day. However, I also think of those children of 9-11. I think of what might happen to the children in Iraq and Afghanistan if we pull out on “a timetable” with no reason. Will they survive the immediate in-fighting? What will happen to the daughters of Afghanistan? Their burden was so heavy before the war. It scares me that a one term senator talks so smoothly to pull out, on a lofty campaign promise, without having been on the ground before that promise. It scares the every lasting shit out of me as a mother. I guess I think beyond my children. I worry for everyone’s children.
Someone asked who voted for GWB the second time? Yes, I did. I am a former army lieutenant with a husband who is a former army captain once deployed to the Middle East. I know people who have died in this war. I’ve met their children. I think of their children too.
So, do I think any politician is perfect? No. Do I want a politician to promise me the world, wax poetic, and call it "change" with no way and no plan to enact it the day after elected? Or do I want a realist who says grimly that we must sometimes finish what we started, although it’s not popular? That's what I want to teach my children. The east way, the self-centered way, isn't always best.
My daughter ran for class rep in second grade and in her speech was that she wanted to have chocolate milk dispensed from the water fountains. Heh! Funny, but that is how I know see Obama. He makes a pretty speech, but he is a chocolate milk peddler. He cuts a good figure and eloquently presses “change,” but he is as inexperienced as my third grader thinking that the school—the world—will listen, bend to her vacuous promises, and actually make those fountain frothy with creamy goodness. These are promises that I see as genuine, but as impossible-ly naïve and inexperienced as my third grade daughter.
I once mentioned on my post that Obama would be better than Hillary. Yesterday, I had a freak out moment as I realize he was THE candidate of the left. I do hope McCain becomes president, but if not, it scares me what he could do and what mistakes he will make with his pendantics without substance. Hillary would have been a better choice. Yes, my friends, this is a conservative saying Hillary would have been a better choice. A safer choice. A choice that would have let me sleep at night without constantly checking heads in little beds.
Yes, the future seems bleak to me if we elect a
Comment cont'd:
Yes, the future seems bleak to me if we elect a chocolate milk peddler. I realize that your thoughts are the same about my candidate. Either way, I think our children will have bright futures knowing that their parents and their parents’ generation cared enough to really think and become impassioned about who they choose to lead. Yes, I think our kids will be safe, but what about that little girl in Afganistan? I love America, but it’s not always about us or our kids, is it?
p.s.
One last question that's been needling me, how can one campaign on change and choose a 36 year senator as one's running mate? Six consecutive terms? In October 2002, Biden voted in favor of the Authorization for Use of Military Force Against Iraq, justifying the Iraq War. Biden stated in 2002 that Saddam Hussein was a threat to national security, and that there was no option but to eliminate that threat. Which is it? Are you running against politics as usual or you fuckbuddies with capitol hill?
Scout's Honor- As far as Afghanistan is concerned, Obama plans on putting more military emphasis there as that enemy is actually tied to 9-11 and our national security.
Despite my defensive reaction to Amelia, I'm not trying to be arrogant, if anything my words couldn't have been more humble. I am afraid, with every fiber of my being, of the world that Bush and McCain have envisioned. They are the people I was speaking of.
I too am thinking about all children. I'm an American and I love my country, but my focus is global. McCain's continuation of Bush policy will wreck more havoc on this country, and in turn, the world, than a whole river of chocolate milk. We can't promote a strong presence abroad if we are weak at home, and we've just suffered through 8 years of counterproductive "leadership." I don't think we can handle even four more.
Regarding Biden, I'm guessing he was brought in to add some of the experience that detractors are yelling about. Kind of like Cheney was, but without the shotgun. Good move? We'll see.
I don't even care if Obama himself is mostly posturing. The change that I hope for isn't a change in the person leading the country, or the changes that person will enact himself.
I hope for someone who will not get in the way of change.
Backpacking Dad- You're right. Any step in the right direction is a step in the right direction.
Of course, just stepping away from Bush is a pretty good start.
I don't think Hope is a bad word. It's just a shame that it's pretty much all we have left. Nothing tangible. Just a Word.
I can almost see good 'Ol Nero and his Fiddle. For the love of Dogfish Head!!! I want to be proven Wrong in the worst way.
cIII- Dogfish Head is tasty!
You know what's funny, is that I wrote this last night and almost didn't publish it because I wasn't sure people would get what I was saying. Turns out that some of them haven't, but not in the way I thought. That's all, just an interesting observation that didn't warrant a post.
Whit - I am with you on this one. This country could use a whole lot of hope right about now. And a big step in the right direction is about to take place. Everyone doesn't have to agree, in fact it will never happen. You don't have to convince this father where the brightest future lies for his child.
James- Glad to hear it!
Lost in all that deep thought you forgot to mention the specific beer you drank!!!
C'mon, dumb it down a little for us simple minded.
AAJoe- I've been on a Moose Drool kick, and for some reason the name kind of ruined the flow. It's damn good though.
I want change too but I don't think social change can happen through politics at a national level. It happens in our living rooms. I believe our children will change things. They will grow up far more socially/environmentally/poltically concious than we will ever be. They'll have the whole world on their laptops. My oldest has e-mail (pen) pals from all over the world. She'll never agree to invade the country of her friends because she knows they are not enemies. They know when things aren't right and they are learning to get people and resources together to fix them. We just have to make sure they know they can, and teach them not to accept less than they deserve. In the mean time we do what we can.
I love your posts because you always show a little bit of your heart. You have a good heart.
ImPerceptible- That's why I love Obama, sure he's a politician but he's preaching what I want to hear, what I need to hear: it's not about him, it's about us and change doesn't come from Washington, change goes to Washington. He gets it. He's from the living room.
He's from the living room and I'm on his couch!!!
sharing these speeches with my kid-o's as well, although 12 year old boy is very interested. Today, I am hopeful for their future and hold a glimmer of hope that on a governmental level there may be change.
tt- why don't you get us all some beers?
bridge- at least he makes me (us?) feel like it could be possible. that's a start
Since when have change and hope become words with such negative connotations? Trust me, change is scary, most new things are but dear Lord can anyone honestly say to themselves--"you know what, I am so much better off today than I was eight years ago."
I don't know anyone that can say that--anyone!! That, is change, for the worse. Because let me tell you, eight years ago I could care less what gas cost, what a loaf of bread cost, what my house was worth---becasue I could afford to pay for it. I can't do that today. Things changed.
And now all I can do is Hope that things will change again, for the better. That's all I've got left.
Fuck me! It's 8:00 in the morning, I've been sober for two years and all I want is a big ole bloody mary!
Ed- Congrats and amen!
I'm really trying not to get bitchy here, seriously, but have any of the pro-Obama commenters even READ the other comments? We're not saying that hope and change are negative concepts - we're saying they are without substance IN THIS INSTANCE, that there is nothing to back them up (nothing workable anyway). McCain offers more in *hope* in terms of actual real, workable, achievable policies. For goodness sake, even U.K. commentators in the political arena are going out of their way yesterday and today to make the point - how will Obama fund this (chocolate river) fantasy land?
Argh, forget it. I'm not going to read this again, what's the point. "People hearing without listening?" Yeah, that is the LEFT. Blech.
Wow Whit. Who'da thunk you would stir up so much ire with an old Simon and Garfunkle song?!
A president does not hold office in a vacuum. A president surrounds himself with advisors who are expert in their field and give him the best information possible. In this respect, a president is only as substantiative and experienced as his advisors, which would be considerable in either case.
What it all comes down to is what the president will do with the advice he is given. Will he listen with intelligence, give due thought, and apply sound judgement to the decision he makes? Or will he go off half-cocked like a fucking idiot with no plans, no regard for his actions, and make the situation worse than it was to begin with?
THAT'S the change I have hope for.
Jeff- I blame Garfunkle
Dave2- and fresh pudding in every pot, I get it
Amen Whit!!
I'm not one to preach politics but I just can't see why anyone would want to live another 4 years under the same regime.
Look where there last 8 years have gotten us.
Apparently I can't stay away. The vacuum comment is dead on correct. Absolutely. That is why I have never understood the complete demonization of Bush or in turn the idolization of Obama. Both seem extreme to me. I'm not sure it's even possible for a President to act as a loose canon in the way Dave2 describes in his second para, but anyway...
As for a simple song creating ire... in my case, yes, it was (as I saw it) the pretty unfair marshaling of a song close to many hearts that partially set me off! Although yes of course it's Whit's blog and he can and should write what he likes, as he does so well.
I suppose what really happened here is that people who really care, on both sides, got upset. That is the irony of it. People who care about the issues react - people who don't, don't.
Anyway, hopefully that is a nicer ending to my commenting, I'm not really wanting to leave a bad taste in Whit's mouth or anyone else's so I apologize for that.
Ok, ok, whit, you lured me back with promises of not hitting women on my post of this same subject. I like a man that promises he doesn't hit women and claims to be a hero. My Sir Galahad. (Fluttered lashes)
So promise again not to hit me when I agree with Amelia, m'kay?
“Hope”, “Change”? All I hear are pretty words that people in desperate economic times want to hear. Chocolate milk, my friends.
I listened a little to Obama’s speech on NPR last night as I drove home from the game. I just didn’t hear anything different. I did come home to people Twittering madly about ”We heart Michelle” and gah! “His kids are so cute.” America likes his look. They like his story. I hate to say this, but, yes, they like his celebrity. Me? I couldn’t give a twat. I care about his brain. I care about his experience. There was nothing about details. No meat on the bone. He might have well spat more chocolate milk in my face.
What I hear so much when people talk about change is their own pocketbook. How very American. Yes, the economy is not that great, but is that because of an administration or because people stupidly purchased houses they could not afford and rang up credit card bills they now can’t pay?
This generation is one of wanting things now and paying later. I admit guilt here too, but I don’t blame it on GWB either. Is this housing downturn, as housing downturns are regular and somewhat predictable in their cycles, the fault of the White House? No! It is about greed, keeping up with the Joneses, and personal responsibility. No one saved up for down payments. They financed 110%. They went subprime when their credit said they weren’t worthy. They promised banks to pay more than they could afford. I have a sister-in-law, a brother, and friends who put themselves in that situation. I pity them, but do I blame GWB? Fuck no. Whose fault is that? Anyone with a brain knew prices were inflated. Hell, I knew prices were inflated when my home doubled in less than five years and pulled out of that California market. Now they want the government to bail them out because of poor decision making?
Is the economy worse because of the war in Iraq/Afghanistan or because terrorists just happened to blow the shit of out of New York and have the street run red with blood and ash? Let's not forget the majority of congress and the super majority of the American people agreed with these wars initially. Whether GWB or Al Gore, there would have been a war. No doubt. Again, I think we need to finish what we started. Hell, most American school districts can’t even build a school in eight years. How can we expect to fight a war and help rebuild two new countries in eight? Be patient America. Be patient.
And gas prices ? Truly. Seriously. The right has been trying to drill offshore for years; it's the left that has left us oil dependent on the Middle East and at the same time calling the war in Iraq all "about the oil." So whi
Comment cont'd:
..So which is it? You can't have both and then happen to blame the president in office because fuck if you aren’t paying $100 at the pump for your SUV. We forget that our executive is quite weak. Have problems with the economy, check out your congress. Who has control of the congress? Hmmmm... Better yet, look at your own spending habits.
I guess I just can’t take the blaming and pointed fingers of the left for the last few months. Where were you?
Hope? Americans have more than any other country—even if you want to equate it to a bank balance. I think of those without running water or food in their belly, without a safety net, without our freedoms. I have plenty of hope. I hope to be able to share America’s wealth with others less fortunate. I hope to make sure that Afgani girl will get an education and will be able to work if she chooses. I hope that 9-11 will never happen again, but it will if we bury our heads in slurping big glasses of chocolate milk and worrying about the price of bread when that little girl goes without bread for the day.
As for change? I think changing Americans’ spend what you don’t have mentality will go far further than empty promises. So back to the question, am I better off than I was eight years ago? Financially, yes. Housing? Yes. My kids’ schools? Yes. Health insurance? Yes. More importantly, peace of mind knowing we went after those fucking terrorists and roused them from their dens of hatred in Afghanistan and Iraq? Fuck, yes. Sleeping like a baby.
I know, I know. Tell me what you really think Scouty. Again, I am impassioned as the next parent and think it’s our responsibility to advocate for all the children of the world.
I do think Whit-ney’s (Heh!) and my hearts are in the same place. Now our brains and our viewpoints are like standing on either side of a great chasm. What is “hopeful” about this discussion is that we and all your commenters are willing to take a deep breath and hurl our bodies into that chasm hoping to come to a middle ground. It takes guts to write a post like that and it also takes guts for commenters like Amelia to disagree.
This is the humanity in blogging. The bravery. The heated discussion. The controversy. The not just agreeing with whatever someone writes. Thanks for the start point, Whit. It’s got me thinking.
PS Damn it, Whit. You know I'm a windy douchehole. Can't you make the comments longer? Heh!
I'm wondering when Hope and Change became four-letter words. Republicans say them with the same disdain as the c-word (which McCain has oh so lovingly called hiss trollop of a wife).
I made this grassroots video to show why I, as a parent, support Obama. http://www.dirtandnoise.com/
2008...ama_30.htmlFind me someone who's done that for McCain. What on earth would those messages be? What the hell does McCain have planned that will benefit our children and their world?
Loved this post. Can you tell?
I'm moving in. Tell Trisha.
Yeah, got room for me too?
Eight is enough. And I love Moose Drool in the worst way.
lilnap- McCain's video would be on VHS.
Kevin- Cool, bring the dogs.
Carrie- Bring more Moose Drool and you're in!
Damn! Now you went and made me start thinking! Now I'll never get to sleep!
Apathy Lounge- I apologize, I didn't think politics would make anyone think.
Wow. Tap a nerve much.
Seems the bitterness has switched sides. Glad to be on the sweet side for once.
And would rather my kids be relegated with thoughts of hope and inclusion and a rally cry of working together.
I mean isn't that what we're supposed to teach them....everyday?
Unfortunately there will always be danger, fear and corruption. My anxiety level took a triple hit when my daughter was born not unlike in the thoughts you poetically waxed here.
And it's never black and white is it?
What is a world where we don't live each day with our eyes wide open for better or worse, and hope for the best?
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