i think this is what people really mean by values, a post i've appended from a list for african americans in higher education. i always love her stuff anyway, so I'm biased. There was also something in that piece about Zogby in The New Yorker -- about certain candidates just being a kind of blank slate in which you just can't believe they'd oppose something you absolutely favored (or vice versa). I think Shrub does that for people, no matter how much he screws up. So, they (the half of the country that voted) just thinks he was mistaken about the WMD, that he had nothing to do with Abu Grhaib, that he's just 'workin' hard.'
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The fact that black folks vote for Bush at all is surprising. We tend to be the litmus test for this country, and overall we aren't doing well. For all the religious fervor (which I believe to be the most popular reason that blacks are voting for him), we as a country aren't better off than before he took office.
I can honestly say that I gave good faith attempts to be impartial. I didn't like the way the last election unfolded, but I wasn't over the moon for Gore either, so Bush coming into office wasn't some catastrophic event. Even excluding the tragedies and traumas of 2001, I expected Bush to step up. I've always believed that the Republicans were more organized and tougher than the Democrats. I expected them to show me something. Certainly not 7 minutes of dead air and 4 years of regression.
I didn't see an improvement during his years in office. What I saw and felt was that America didn't get better. In some ways it got worse. Anything productive that has happened occurred on its own. It's like a neglected child who learns how to read; the parent can't take credit for his reading ability, especially when you consider that the child is still sick and dirty.
I was flipping channels yesterday and I landed on MTV. They were interviewing students at some university and one student said that she didn't expect to be friends with the President, she just expected him to get the job done. I don't believe its that people hate Kerry or don't trust him. I believe that its that Bush has marketed himself as an archetype that is easily identifiable (Texas good ol' boy, rich boy, jokester, deeply religious, believer). Even if you don't like his type, you recognize it.
You can't do that clearly with Kerry. You can't ignore that he's a rich boy, but then he fought in Vietnam (rich boys dodge). You know that he's religious, but then he's pro-choice. He isn't a jokester, he's friendly, but much like the nerd in the back of the room, you ignore him until you have to work on a project. And Kerry is the barer of bad news; he thinks we're going in the wrong direction. No one wants to hear bad news. They feel that we're going in the wrong direction, but they want to believe that where we're headed is right.
If Bush is re-elected, then fine. He's my President. But I'm double and triple strapping myself in for this ride. I was planning on buying a house, but I just might hold off on that. I have a brother well within draft age, so I might have to update my passport. I have a part time job that I think I'll hold on two for a bit longer. The only good things about Bush coming back into office are that 1. We know how he is and 2. we have been forewarned.