Go away, Hillary

What I should really entitle this post is Quitting Smoking, part 2. So let me just preface the following rants by stating that I am slightly more than slightly irritable right now.

Fuck, can Hillary Clinton just go away already? She's like that kid in school that follows the cool kids around and nobody really has the heart to tell her that she's not welcome but everyone does their best to at least be awkward about things and make sure that she has a chance to catch a hint about being utterly and completely unwelcome. I mean I know that Hillary missed a historical opportunity to be the first woman President and I'm sorry about that - I really am. But the fact is that this is not her time, not her place. Nor is it McCain's. To the extent that I am capable of believing in destiny, I genuinely believe that Obama is destined to be the next President of the United States. I mean look at the guy. He's bulletproof.

Yeah yeah, there may even be people who are still hung up on this Reverend Wright thing. So the guy is pissed off about the treatment of his people by White America? I'm pissed off about the treatment of my people by White America, and I'm White! And we'd be deluding ourselves if we said that anyone does not harbor some hatred, racism, homophobia, complete misunderstanding or unfounded fears at some point in their lives. We're human, and that's a sad human truth. John McCain has somehow managed to avoid any animosity over an interview that he did shortly after his release from a Vietnamese prison camp in the 1970's where he referred to the Vietnamese repeatedly as "G00k$" - it's right there for the picking on Google if you don't believe me.

I'm not a proclaimed blogging political pundit. I have virtually no understanding of the game of politics in this country - which puts me in a pool of about 99.999% of Americans out there right now. The other fraction of our countrymen - a bunch of overpaid CEO's, lawyers, and yes - politicians, are the ones who fully understand this game. Because of that understanding and the common schmo's apathy about voting, that tiny percentage controls goddamn nearly everything - and I'm fucking sick of it.

Maybe that's why I like Obama so much, because he discourages apathy and cynicism in the face of such seemingly impossible obstacles like a sense of utter defeat over politics in this country and tells us that if we give a shit about the current state of things it's our job, our responsibility to stand up and at least make our dissenting voices heard even if they are not understood. Forgive me my tangent for a moment here but there are people who would die (and no I'm not talking about middle-easterners who have no understanding of or desire for democracy so let's get back on track here) - die to be able to vote. Sure, I don't know any of them. I probably can't even point to their country on a map. I probably can't even spell the name of their country. And if hard pressed, I might admit that I can't really remember the last time I read a newspaper article about those people or if I ever have at all. But surely they're out there. Just a surely as there are people with extra toes and ears and conjoined twins. They've just gotta be out there.

Anyway get off of your lazy ass and go register to vote or something. Otherwise nutjobs like me who might be angrier than usual because they're quitting smoking and going through nicotine withdrawal will be deciding the fate of your country and you wouldn't want that, now would you?