Well, it’s a hundred days and counting – I’ve got 100 days to figure out who I’m going to vote — against. I’ve been a registered voter for over 50 years and I’ve voted in every presidential election over those 50 years. I’m trying to think how long it’s been since I voted “for” someone instead of “against” someone.
I’m often accused of being old and crotchety – and I probably am, but it seems that every presidential race is becoming more and more negative. I don’t remember a TV ad this year that one candidate wasn’t knocking the other. No one tells you how good they’re going to be for the country – just how bad their opponent will be.
I read an article a day or so ago that indicated that the presidential election is sinking to record depths of negativity and nastiness. The fact is that it does all seem negative, but I wouldn’t call it “nasty” just yet.
If you look back in history, politics has always been a bit nasty. The 1800 race between Thomas Jefferson and John Adams is a good example. (No, I wasn’t old enough to vote for or against anyone in that election.) A Jefferson hired hand wrote that Adams was a “hideous hermaphroditical character which has neither the force and firmness of a man, nor the gentleness and sensitivity of a woman.” Adams’ campaign countered that Jefferson was “a mean-spirited, low-lived fellow, the son of a half-breed Indian squaw, sired by a Virginia mulatto father.” I hate to say it, but if the current campaign gets to that point, it might at least become more entertaining.
In one recent poll (at least according to the Washington Post) more than two-thirds of voters said they already had all the information they need to make their choice. Apparently a lot of people can make up their minds with a lot less information or “facts” than I can. I’ll stand by hoping something happens in the next 100 days that makes me want to vote “for” someone.
The fact is, one of these guys (Obama or Romney) will be elected president and will immediately have to deal with a fiscal crisis that will test his political and leadership skills. Whoever I decide to vote against, I wish his opponent the best of luck…
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