The Popular Vote

We still have a week (actually six days now) until the current election finishes and already pundits and prognosticators are looking ahead to the next election and if this current campaign has taught us anything it's that the campaigns will start right now. No, maybe not that early but early enough. I find it funny that we're talking about it now seeing as how many believe the results of this election are in the bag already. Some of the ads that the McCain-Palin campaign have been airing of late have an air of defeat in them; they talk about how Obama will not be ready to handle any international crisis that comes across his plate in the early days of his presidency (should he be elected). Why are we talking about what he could do if there's still hope of winning as many siding with McCain are claiming despite declining poll numbers? I guess they are done reading the tea leaves and are sticking with the polls. Is this why then we are already looking ahead? I suppose so.

But another, slightly more disturbing trend that I've seen coming into this election is the increase in the popular vote. I'm not talking about the actual political term but rather what you probably remember from student council elections in school if you ever had the misfortune of running against the most popular kid in school (as I did on a couple of occasions). It didn't really matter if I was smart or if I had the capability of completing my job as student council president but because my opponent happened to be the guy many girls in the school had a crush on I lost in the election (though it was only by two or three votes apparently). It was then that I first began to realize that popularity could be an asset and a bane. It all depends on your point of view.

Now even in this election, some of the polls have fluctuated on the popularity of a particular candidate. I don't think you can point to anyone more emphatically than Sarah Palin in this case. Following her announcement as the vice presidential nominee she has been at the forefront of many of the campaign ads and rallys and has helped get a solid backing for McCain in areas where there was flagging or minimal support. She has a dynamic personality that many find appealing and apparently it was enough to help his numbers though in the intervening months it has declined as more and more information on her knowledge (or lack thereof) on issues came to the forefront. But it didn't really matter. If you hear some of the people who have heard her speak at rallys they will talk and behave as if she is the smartest woman on the planet and that she is the answer to all our prayers and the cure for all the ills in our country at present.

Now not to take anything away from Governor Palin but I find that pill a little hard to swallow. I have no doubt that she has a dynamic personality but to use that as a basis for saying that she will lead us into the future is a stretch. And I don't think it has anything to do with her proposals or policies for the White House (after all she seems convinced at times that she'll have more say in the running of the nation than McCain would as President), but the fact that she's popular. Many of her supporters point to the fact that they can relate to her. I guess that's why Neiman Marcus is doing so well in this economy since apparently everyone who 'relates' to her is spending thousands of dollars on clothes there. Maybe that issue has nothing to do with anything and it is all a bit of fluff meant to detract from her as a candidate, but what I find disturbing in these allegations is that on the one hand people say 'so what if she spent that much' and on the other they will say that she will donate those clothes. But the fact of the matter remains that she (or someone on her campaign team) has spent the equivalent of a medium valued house in some parts of the country. Is that frugal? I don't think so.

But it doesn't matter. People like her because she's popular and that popularity seems to be feeding her. Now more than ever she seems to go to rallys with slogans and promises that often sound contrary to what John McCain is saying at his. Is that independence or preparation for the next election. After all, many people are convinced that Sarah Palin will be a frontrunner for the Presidency in 2012 because even if McCain wins this year, he may be too old to run again in 2012 for re-election. My issue with that is that we've already had a President for eight years who was highly rated as 'a President you could have a beer with' and I dont' think it was all chocolates and roses. I'd rather have someone who knows what they are talking about and if they don't, has the guts to say that they don't and is ready to name advisors who are experienced enough to provide unbiased advise, not their own agenda. Who knows, if popularity is all that matters then it wouldn't be too much of a stretch to see that campaign poster up there updated to show 'Vader 2012: Together We Can Rule the Galaxy'.