Here it comes, yet another heated presidential election.
Who will take it? The Democrats? The Republicans?
The black guy? The white lady?
Is it just me, or is this turning into an election that is more about getting something that is out of the ordinary into the White House than it is about getting somebody who is the most qualified into office?
A group of people came into the restaraunt where I work the other day and when asked their name the head of the party jokingly said that it was Barack Obama. They demanded a table for the next black president. When I laughed and said that they would have to wait he laughed with me and said, "It's ok, you're voting for me and thats all that counts." I smiled and laughed again and casually informed him that I actually wasn't sure who I would be voting for. The smiles and laughter ended there. Apparently not being sure that I would vote for the black man in the election makes me an Uncle Tom.
Don't get me wrong. I'm not saying that women and black men aren't qualified to be president. I am just a little worried that people are beginning to overlook the issues in their heated desire to elect the first black or woman president. I have actually had conversations with several different people that lead me to believe so. In a nutshell, they all felt the same way. They felt that breaking the barrier and getting a black man or a woman into office was much more important in the long run than electing someone just based on who would be the best president.
So I wonder, is this true?
Is it much more important to overcome the race and gender barrier than it is to select based on the issues?
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4 comments:
In my opinion, voting for someone substantially on their race/gender, and letting them win when they're not qualified will only increase the feeling of what we in the business world call the "glass ceiling effect," and will make people regret more than ever and be cautious more than ever as to ever allow a black person or a woman to run for president ever again.
You might not agree with me, but Hillary Clinton is my pick (that is, if I were ever able to vote): she seems to have worked in the government smoothly, and has been on the inside of things, considering she was married to the former president. It just seems like she has better chances than the other candidates currently involved, and she seems so much more real than the rest. Sure, Obama can summon great enthusiasm into people with his mere presence, but it just seems like Hillary knows how to get things done in the end.
I actually dislike all of the candidates.
Well, obviously it is a different case for you, but every single person I have talked to about the 2008 presidential candidates, have focused on the issues, particularly social issues such as abortion, embryonic stem cell research, gay marriage, gun control, etc, and economic issues such as social security, dependency on foreign oil, alternative energy sources, illegal immigration (also can be seen as a social issue), and foreign policy issues such as the War in Iraq, Iran, Darfur, North Korea, China, etc.
From my observation, the majority of Americans do not say to themselves, "Hey, Hillary is a woman, and its about time a women gets elected". Those are a few 13 year olds who go on sites like Teen Vogue to express their narrow opinions. The people who are actually concerned with the candidates are people who have, at least, a fair sense of the issues, and know what they want in the next president in terms of where they stand on the issues that now face the United States. Hillary being a woman, and Obama being part African-American may be part of their decision, and may be part of the appeal, but from where I stand, most people are concerned about the issues because they have witnessed for the past eight years, a President who has either ignored the issues or created them.
....which is why I am almost positive that very few are willing to let the issues be ignored or exacerbated this time around. Very few are prone to look only at the physical aspects of a prospective president, when they know full well that the next president needs to undo what this current administration has done, start a new agenda, and make change happen.
Those people you talked to who openly stated that they think breaking cultural barriers is more important than the issues, represent about .07% of the population.
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