Resolved: No More US Elections News

The other night i was watching Robert Greenwald’s Stop the FOX Virus series and realized that i have had enough. The War for the White House, Indecision 2008, Once Upon a Clinton – pick your poisoned appellation – has become a cultish operation of such immense proportions that the major campaigns have become virtually meaningless… and perhaps the candidates too, though i’m willing to admit they are serious individuals on serious personal crusades…. to wield more power than any of them individually deserve. Greenwald’s work is good, impeccable even, when it comes to illuminating gross and fanatical media manipulation. His hate for FAUX News is commendable. For non-americans who keep asking me – yes, even in 2008 - “Why was Bush re-elected in 2004??”, they explain a lot. However, i can’t take any more of the meaningless chatter, constantly replicated in the international media, about non-issues that are turned into issues because people at the highest levels of spin are afraid to disturb the status quo and talk about something meaningful.

Maybe even more discomfiting than what’s going on in mainstream media is the extent to which the (primarily but not solely) US progressive left media feels (apparently) compelled to refute and deconstruct. i don’t want to go to The Nation or Salon.com and read about what Obama’s REAL relationship with his minister is. i don’t care. People are putting these candidates under levels of scrutiny that they wouldn’t consider using with someone they have a one-night stand or even long term relationship with. “What’s your name again and have you ever said anything that was racist, or been close to someone whom i might possibly consider racist?” It’s important to know that before you start pulling off clothes in the heat of passion - NOT!

So yes, we don’t ask this of our friends and the argument that we should ask these things about political candidates is absurd. Not because i think leaders should be morally vacant, but let’s be real about the fact that anyone who makes it to the US Senate is going to (1) have dealt with constituents whose ideas they don’t agree with, (2) probably have had shady business associates, and (3) contradicted themselves at one time or another. People in other countries understand this, it is not an american phenomenon, it’s part of the human condition.

The question on everyone’s mind should be whether someone is capable and clear-thinking enough to run the executive branch of the US government. The current person in that position clearly does not meet these basic qualifications, so why go overboard about extraneous personal judgments when even John McCain fits the minimum job requirements? When candidates attack each other over this kind of stuff, it mostly shows how much they want to AVOID talking about things that concretely matter in terms of how the government is operating.

This evening i noticed a headline on one news site that claims Bill had Monica over when Hillary was in the house. Goddamn, the press just can’t let that one go, can they? i don’t think i have the stamina to see what HRC’s response to this is going to be, followed by endless media commentary on how she’s always been her own person or WHATEVER. Enough is enough. i come from the US and recognize the role it plays in the world. i acknowledge that my cultural roots are in many ways definitely american, or at least a particular american subculture. But at this point, there are some things i simply do not want to know about and the democratic circus is numero uno on the list.