Getting up for Obama

The deeper we get into the political season, the quieter I tend to become. There are occasions when in the presence of good company and wine, my whining becomes less controlled and provocations of others 'green lights' me to express my own. (Like they matter or anyone really cares.)

But politics inevitably wearies me. With Earth's population above six and a half billion, political opinions are like penises, i.e., every man has, or eventually grows, one. Okay, bad analogy but with things political it's a man's world and, sadly, for those women successful enough to share in the fine art of ruling the masses, it is most often requisite they emulate their male counterparts by growing strong political opinions and using the highly evolved tactics of skillful diplomacy laced with the machismo of implied threats and subtle consequences like isolation, sanctions, bombs and/or total annihilation.

This past Friday evening at the invitation of Border Explorer, a regular albeit it too infrequent commenter here at the Dally, Mrs. Dada and I attended a pleasant open house gathering at a wonderfully conceived Casa Puente in the heart of Old El Paso. Casa Puente is "a living space for border immersion groups, focusing on the issues of global economics and immigration...that share in the common goals of working for a more just and peaceful world."

I should preface what I'm about to say with a flashback to Tuesday, July 27, 2004 first. That's the evening at the opening of the Democratic National Convention the keynote speaker delivered an arousing speech that provoked orgasmic media comments of him being *presidential material*.

The way the media played this speaker up that night made my skin crawl. Here this young man, not yet even elected to the U.S. Senate seat he was pursuing that same election season, was being put in the White House by the media! A somewhat premature climax to that speaker's pep talk I thought. I'm speaking of Barack Obama from Illinois, of course.

I got a strange feeling that night Americans were being greased for the future. This particular past Friday evening I witnessed how really slick it's manifesting. That's because one of the highlights of our gathering at Casa Puente was a mock caucus in preparation for this coming Tuesday's Texas primary.

During the ensuing discussion, I was overwhelmed by the support Obama was getting. I got the impression the KOOL-AID® had definitely been spiked with VIAGRA ®, so willing to stand up for the junior senator from Illinois was the vast majority of those present.

I wish I could share the enthusiasm. As long as the only viable choices the system allows us are, "So-So" and "Worse", I suppose it's great people can get excited and aroused over that. Sure, road kill scraped off a highway's shoulder would make a better president than what America's had to endure these past 7+ years, but is that what's giving so many irrational exuberance for an Obama (or worse, McCain!)--that anyone or any thing is better than Bush?

There are a few who remain a little more sober, or realistic (or somber?) about long-on-hope, short-on-specifics Obama. Matt Gonzalez, a former president of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors, said this past week after studying Obama's senate voting record in, The Obama Craze: Count Me Out, "Obama has fallen into a dangerous pattern of capitulation"...(i.e., "pandering to win votes")..."that he cannot reconcile with his growing popularity as an agent of change."

Don't misunderstand, I am hopeful Obama can live up to all the wonderful expectations of change he's been feeding us should he gain the White House. But I'm also skeptical. Maybe that's because I haven't washed it down with the VIAGRA ® laced KOOL-AID® everyone's so high on.

All I'm wishing for is a little time to sober up from this Obama orgy of promised change. After all, as the best selling dysfunction curing pharmaceutical warns, if your state of arousal lasts longer than four hours, you should probably consult your physician -- immediately!