For the past few weeks -- like many Ricochet members, I'm sure -- I've devoured news on the presidential race like a ravenous shark in bloody chum. I think I'm the worse for it because I'm ... shutting down.
I find myself entering a kind of self-induced coma made up of equal parts fear, cautious optimism, anger, and depression depending on the day, the hour, the poll results from pollsters I've never heard of, and the news of the race. Because of Twitter and blogs and online news and talk radio -- and yes, Ricochet -- information now comes rapid-fire for those who seek it. It's like being on the wrong end of a fire hose.
Too much information, and little of it very encouraging or definitive. Romney up, Obama up, tied race, heavily weighted polls, gaffes that aren't gaffes, gaffes that are gaffes but not treated or reported as such, pundits spewing drivel ... too much information. It's overhwelming.
I find myself watching sports instead of politics, and listening to music instead of news because it's so dispiriting. This year, there is a very clear choice between American Constitutionalism and vapid, European-style Social Democracy. It should be a landslide, but it may not be. It may not even be a victory for the good guys.
All I can cling to, really, is a couple of things that give me a little bit of comfort. One is that I personally do not know of a single voter who went for McCain in the last election who is switching sides this time -- and I know a number who are doing the opposite. I want to extrapolate that across the country, even though it's simplistic.
And this: Only two years ago, American voters threw the Dems out of office in a righteous, full-throated fury. Their target at that time was unreachable: Obama. This time, he's reachable. I doubt those 2010 voters have lost their anger, but I wonder where they are. I can only hope they're not answering the calls from pollsters -- and that they're gearing up in silence and in secret to do it all over again.
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Comments:
Feb '11
Re: TMI
I have to confess C.J., that I have been overwhelmed with all of the data as well. I am in a default state of despair, living and working in New York among the enormous coalition of limousine liberals and clients of the welfare state. I get so frustrated at the Right’s inability to heed the advice and example of Gingrich to not allow the Left/MSM to frame the issues of the election. Romney needs to understand that the only sound bites that will make the MSM news are his responses to their sucker punch questions. His responses should be directed straight to the cameras, and the content should be variations on his elevator pitch.
The link to the UCB study by Boymoose was the first encouraging electoral calculus I’ve read, and I pray that it retains its historical accuracy.
BTW, I devoured the Pickett novels in the past two weeks as I’ve disengaged from election coverage. I absolutely loved them.