The Democratic Party hates me.
Shorter version of this post: I'm fucking furious.
John Edwards gave up his run for the White House today. The only candidate who I felt was speaking for me on a number of issues - Iraq, poverty, health care, the toxic effect of the media on public discourse and electoral politics, the obscene influence of corporations and lobbyists on what gets done and doesn't get done in this country - is out of the race. The only candidate with the nerve to call out the propagandists at FoxNews and tell them to stick their biased, poison coverage up their collective asses - after which all the other 'bold' 'candidates of change' followed suit - is no longer an option on the Democratic ballot.
And a week before the New York primary, so I don't even get to cast my vote for who I want to run this country.
I'm left looking at two candidates that I have absolutely zero enthusiasm for.
Hillary Clinton? No. She hews way too close to the BushCo corporate line for me - as Jack Cafferty just succinctly put it on CNN, she is the poster child for the Washington Establishment. Her politics absolutely stink of entrenched interests, Big Money, and the status quo.
Barack Obama? No. His pitch is too vague, and while I long for a new approach in American politics I don't think Obama's way is a New Way. His pleas for unity and reconciliation with Republicans send up a red flag for me - he's setting himself up to be buffaloed by the opposition should he reach the Oval Office. It's been said many times - Republicans don't want to work with Democrats, they want to steal their lunch money, stall their legislation, demonize their candidates, and humiliate them politically any chance they get.
Wanting to reach across the aisle at this late date is dangerously naive in my view. Obama can extend his hand, but he should expect to get his watch and cuff links stolen.
Both of these candidates, in my view, have enormous problems with electability. Call me a sexist, call me a racist, a gloomy gus, an apostate, I don't give a fuck. The GOP is laying for whoever gets the nomination on the Dem side - they have a phone book-sized dossier on Hillary and will dredge up everything from HillaryCare to goddamn Vince Foster to drag down her numbers. And you can expect whoever gets the Republican nomination to run as hard against Bill as he'll run against Hillary. Clinton-Hate is all they've got, but it is a powerful weapon even now. (As I type this, Terry Jeffries is on CNN running down a litany of Bill Clinton's 'crimes.' Geez, didn't see that one coming...)
Obama? Get ready for Rezko. 'Nuff said.
There are days when I feel like the entire system is gamed against guys like me. It feels like every single politician down in DC has joined a club, and the first rule of that club is 'fuck the constituents.' It's depressingly easy to look at what goes on in DC and conclude that no one there in any elected capacity gives a flying fuck about the people who put them there - until it's time to ask for their vote again.
Me? I don't even get to vote for the guy who I believed could solve some of the problems that I consider to be important to the very survival of this country.
Instead, I'm stuck looking at two candidates who I consider to be damaged goods, right out of the gate, and I'm expected to get excited about that?
Sorry. No.
Invictus Adds: Great post, to which I must add a very heartfelt: "Ditto."