sadly...

So I'm sitting there waiting to get my haircut today and watching the news. Apparently both Obama and Clinton were giving a speech, although it was difficult to tell. Most talked of was reaction to Obama's comments of a few days ago (or however long it's been...without a TV it's difficult to tell how long ago "breaking" news happened) in which he claimed that some people are "bitter" because they've been left behind by the last few administrations. There was an image of Obama giving his speech, but you couldn't hear his words because the correspond ants were talking about what McCain and Clinton have both said about what he said. Then they cut off the correspondents to show Clinton and I got to hear her talk about the market and jobs a little, outlining the issues, and then she said, "And here is what I propose..."

I was on the edge of my seat...for a moment, one brief shining moment on the television that morning, I would hear, not a pundit, but a politician, saying what s/he believed and proposed. It was going to be amazing. Agree with her or not, I was just so damn excited to hear some real news. Suddenly, literally following the lines, "Here is what I propose..." her mike was cut off. The image continued to run for a moment as the commentator said, "We'll get back to you in a minute with highlights of what Senator Clinton says, but first, we'd like to re-cap what she said earlier about Obama in what has become an ugly debate."

Seriously? Seriously?? Come on...Maybe I was just too young to remember, but I can't imagine it has always been like this. It almost makes you pine for the days of Buckley and Vidal's faggot/fascist exchange. At least it was in their own words, face to face, and they were debating issues instead of someone else recounting what they may have meant when they said something a while back.

Sadly, I can remember when I was excited about politics. When I cared enough to read all about it, when I watched the news regularly to find out what was happening. Now it's a joke. A sad sad joke. And, the worst part is, it seems like the majority of people not only don't see it's a joke, but would rather keep things the way they are.

I hate to sound alarmist, but it feels as though those predictions that a democracy would eventually defeat itself by pandering to the lowest common denominator is finally coming to fruition. Let's hope whomever wins this election cycle has the strength of character and leadership to challenge us, as citizens and Americans, to better ourselves. Challenge us to be as great as we must be to keep the Country great, because if not, we might as well cash in our chips now.