I feel very sorry for the majority of both Democrats and Republicans having to pretend that they are satisfied with their party’s candidate. Digging to find good points when there is so much in the way that sorely dissatisfies them. If you really want to see how people feel, pay attention to how often both sides fall back to base arguments like “He’s better than the other guy” or “No candidate is perfect.” I’m sure deep down Obama and Romney are both perfectly nice, flawed human beings that are often disappointed with having to compromise on the principles they wish they had in order to get or hold on to the job they really want in order to apply the principles they want to believe in if people just let them. I’m sure they push these feelings way down the way politicians must.
Let’s start with Obama. He was stuck with a Congress and Senate that like himself were afraid of the consequences of taking action. They want to pretend Republicans were stopping them, but the truth is that they lost the House because their base wasn’t willing to come out to reward two years of inaction. Obama decided he was in favor of gay marriage because his vice president spoke the truth by accident. Obama clearly was put on the spot because he cares about losing North Carolina more than he cares about the people effected by the gay marriage vote. He gave one interview the day after the NC vote where he claimed to support gay marriage, but then made it clear that it was a decision that he was leaving to the states (because the Democratic Party is going back to their Pre-Civil War States Rights platform?) which by all legal means was a complete support of North Carolina’s actions. Gay Rights advocates were forced into the sad position of praising this weak, empty interview as the greatest step forward for their cause. They had to pretend that Obama wasn’t hedging his bet with a community that was holding back their money because of his inaction. They had to pretend that it was good enough. If the Left could feel safe in an election year in saying how they felt, they would be very disappointed on all the issues that really matter to them. They are forced to jump on peripheral issues that they didn’t care about before they hit the news in order to feel like the Democratic party is fighting for them instead of fighting for reelection. Worst of all, is scrambling for good economic news because they know it is not good enough. They are desperately afraid of the unemployment rate and every other economic factor that they wish was several times better. They don’t want to blame Bush. They want to praise Obama’s achievements. If they weren’t holding on with their fingernails to a candidate they are afraid of losing to a Republican, they would realize that blaming Bush is a terrible strategy. It was bad back when it was “election stealing” blame in 2000 and it’s not the strategy they wish they had now. They wish they could say, “Are you better off now than you were four years ago?” They wish they could say, “Yes, we did.” But they are stuck with a candidate that did not live up to even their moderate expectations.
Now Republicans … Romney won the nomination, but he is not our best. He is not the guy most Republicans in most states want. He is not even the guy that the people who voted for him really wanted. Many Romney voters were afraid Conservative candidates would be too easy to paint as crazy so they made a deal with themselves and with the other side that they would pick bland. They have not learned the lesson that moderate fails more often than Conservative wins. Open your history book (I’m talking about Google, of course) and look at the Republicans that won two terms and look at the ones that lost or were voted out … what is the overwhelming pattern? I’m serious. Go look it up and face facts. Romney is not a bad candidate, but he is a poor Conservative. It is not because he worked at Bain or because he is rich. It is not because of any of the desperate attack ads from the other side. He lacks iron. He has a consistent record of folding on principle for political convenience. The other side wants to paint Republicans as extreme and racist and every other ____ist they can think of because they’ll never have to back any of it with facts and they have a short enough memory to ignore their own party’s history on the ____ists. The truth is when Republicans get scared, they don’t become more Conservative. They run to the center with a McCain or a Romney. They look for safe and they vote for weak-willed politicians. Romney will not stand up for Conservative principles under pressure
On the principles each party cares about, Obama and Romney are equally disappointing. I know most of you on both sides will go on pretending because the die has been cast and you know one of these two lesser men is going to be president for the next four years. Every time you post a heartfelt support of one of these two, know that I’m aware you are pretending.
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