It’s eight days before the election and in biblical terms, eight signifies the number of new beginnings. Well, I hope our nation will really have such new beginning by voting for the right man for the job (in my opinion, Barack Obama) but in the meantime, it seems like dog years to get to November 4th.
I’m getting restless with this election and maybe because it also falls around my birthday and I would like to spend my time on what to do in the next phase of my life than listen to another “I approve this message” and other clichéd election terms. So I reflect on the longest election season I’ve ever been a part of, I would like to say things about it I will not miss:
CNN’s John King’s psychedelic election map: I thought I was the only person paying attention to John King’s fascination with his electronic toy called the map but I busted laughing last Thursday when I saw SNL spoofing what I’ve been thinking for months – Enough with the hypnotizing red, blue, pink, grey colored map!
Shouting Pundits: In all my years (though light years) of observing politics, I have never seen such passion or feistiness from pundits that resulted in shouting matches. OMG! I felt like telling some of these pundits “we are not deaf but your shouting matches made us wish we were.” Honorable mentions with the eardrums splitting are most folks at Fox News i.e. Bill O’Reilly and Sean Hannity.
Buzz-Killing Words: Oh there are so many but let me oblige you with those words: battleground states (Florida, Nevada, etc), Bradley effect, hockey moms, soccer moms, Wal-Mart moms, working-class, and middle-class.
Elisabeth Hasselbeck of The View: Now I think it is necessary to have a “conservative” voice on the view but my God, Hasselbeck has ignited some unnecessary sparks in her defense for the Republican party and her dislike for the Democratic party. It is okay to criticize your party every now and then but not so with Hasselbeck; she will find the good for a Republican but not so much for a Democrat.
Keith Olbermann and his “special comments:” I’m an equal opportunity girl and just like I had a problem with the conservative Hasselbeck; I have a problem with the liberal Olbermann. Now I like Olberman and I get he’s trying to channel the late great Edward Murrow by his “good night, good luck” sign off but come on, you’ve got to be balanced. Olbermann has made it mission to go against Fox News, or as he calls the network “Fox Noise,” or “Fix News.” And his viewers know his on-going feud with “Billo” (Bill O’Reilly) but this viewer would like a day when I don’t have to hear Fix News or Billo, or another “special comment.” The news will be just fine – well, I can only hope.
Race in the race: Yeah you read that right. It’s the issue of race in the race to the white house. I feel in almost two years of watching this election I’ve had to listen to questions like “is he black enough?” “Will race affect this race?” and the like. Just last weekend I said to myself if I find another “race roundtable” discussions, I’m gonna scream.
What I found funny is that most of these questions were coming from white pundits. Seriously, how could four white people gather around an oak table on some of these political shows (i.e. Meet The Press) and they are talking about race? Where is a person of color? I understand you can’t get the go-to black pundit (Donna Brazille) all the time but there are others. I wish Tim Russett was still alive. If those race discussions were going to be brought up, there will be PBS Gwen Ifill or NPR Michelle Norris to balance the table. I’m just saying.
Pandering from the candidates: Have there been another election season that had this much pandering? Examples: Hillary Clinton taking shots of whiskey showing is “one of the boys,” Obama going bowling (note to Barack: stick with basketball), or McCain with his incessant “Joe the plumber” to show he relates to the middle-class (in what world?)
Preachers in politics: Now I get preachers are citizens too and they have freedom of speech. But there is something called separation of church and state. This election season has brought about preachers who almost derailed a candidate’s presidential campaign. In Obama’s corner: Rev. Wright, Father Pfleger, and Rev. Jesse Jackson. In McCain’s corner: Arnold Conrad, John Hagee and Rod Parsley.
So the aforementioned are just some things I will not miss as this election season comes to a close. But it was a fun ride and I must say by channeling one of an old times variety show signoff: I’m so glad we had this time together.
Tags: SNL, Elisabeth Hasselbeck, Keith Olbermann, John King
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