WG Talks Politics

I don't like to talk about politics, much less write about it.

But lately, Frank and I are totally into the presidential race. We're like junkies. We watch it like a sporting event. We watch the cable shows where the anchors yell at each other; we watch the polls on the morning news programs; we read about it on the internet and we even watch all the debates (well, most of them). I think we may have even watched the State of the Union address which isn't really about the presidential race but still in the same genre.

When the whole thing started I thought, "I don't like anybody. There's nobody good to choose from."

Now I kinda like everybody and I'll tell you why:

They're all quite charming. And they're very convincing when they talk. Huckabee's funny. Obama's inspirational. McCain's impressive. Romney's smooth. Hillary's determined.

And is it just me or do they all sound really, really smart? Like during the Republican debates the other night, when they were talking about the environment, Romney said:

"Nuclear power, biodiesel, biofuel, all the renewables, liquefied coal, where you sequester the carbon dioxide, those things make all the sense in the world."

"Did you hear that?" I said to Frank. "That thing he said about sequestering the carbon dioxide? I don't know what that means or if it's a good idea but that sounded really smart."

And the numbers! They know these numbers right off the tops of their heads. Huckabee said,

"Every billion dollars we spend on highway construction results in 47,500 jobs. But the fact is the average American is sitting in traffic 38 hours a year."

"How did they get to be so smart?" I asked Frank.

And while I'm sure some is a little bit rehearsed, they're still basically talking off the cuff. So that makes their final statements even more impressive. I mean, these words from Obama are better than anything I've heard in a prepared speech:

"But you know, it is really important, I think, for us also to give the American people this sense, as they are struggling with their mortgages and struggling with their health care and trying to figure out how to get their kids in a school that will teach them and prepare them and equip them for this century, that they get a sense that government's on their side, that government is listening to them, that it's carrying their voices into the White House...That's the reason I'm running for president of the United States of America."

Wow. If I were him, I'd be like, "Did somebody write that down? That's a tombstone contender right there."

And check out Huckabee:

"What made Ronald Reagan a great president was not just the intricacies of his policies, though they were good policies. It was that he loved America and saw it as a good nation and a great nation because of the greatness of its people.And if we can recapture that, that's when we recapture the Reagan spirit. It's that spirit that has a can-do attitude about America's futures and that makes us love our country whether we're Democrats or Republicans. And that's what I believe Ronald Reagan did -- he brought this country back together and made us believe in ourselves. And whether he believes in us, I hope we still believe in those things which made him a great leader and a great American."

I'm telling you, they just come up with this stuff! And Anderson Cooper says that none of them even sweat. I would be sweating, stuttering and probably run off the stage crying. But that's why I'm not running for president. That, and I don't know what it means to sequester carbon dioxide.
Are you like Frank and me and don't know which of these smarty pants to vote for? Or just want to see if who you plan to vote for is in line with what you really think?

Check out this quiz sent to us by our favorite political guru-Richard Zientek (who will probably be one of these non-sweating, show-offs one day).
You might be surprised!