The New Cannibals

Politics is usually colorful and full of what-were-you-thinking moments. This year’s been one to remember.

It’s been the most interesting race for me since I was aware of what “politics” meant. Between the sheer number of initial candidates and the things they say about each other, I sometimes wonder if either party will be able to look unified in the post-nomination run. I watch the talking heads on Sunday morning (“Washington Week in Review” and “Meet the Press”) religiously, and I think every major candidate has been on one or both of them in the last few months.

They even had Bill Richardson on, for God’s sake.

So far, it reminds me of watching a car wreck in slow motion. Like the time I was a teenager and my older sister and me were sitting at an intersection waiting for the light to change. She was driving and couldn’t turn around to see where the screeching brake and crash sound came from. I turned around to see a car that had just been broadsided spinning around, recovering and heading straight for our trunk.

Well, it was Mama’s trunk, actually. Her car, her trunk.

But it’s an image I’ll never forget. That car seemed to take minutes to hit, and then time speeded up. I don’t even remember much about the aftermath, other than no one was hurt and Mama’s car (an old Ford Galaxy 500—big as a boat) sustained some damage. The trunk got smashed in.

There were three cars involved in that accident: the one that hit the other car, the one that got hit, and the one that hit us. It’s an almost perfect metaphor for the current races and on both sides.

I fear that the degeneration of political campaign tactics that we’re seeing these days will, ultimately, harm everyone, candidates and the electorate alike. When you eat your own alive ever more viciously, it’s hard to maintain a façade of unity.

Shannon and I are trying to decide which Democrat we’re going to vote for in the primary. He thought I had my mind made up, but I keep going back and forth between the two. I may not decide until I actually get to the polling station.

And I was so sad to see John Edwards leaving the campaign today. He’s a fine man with an important perspective: what it means to come from a dirt-poor working family and go forward. He’s from the Southern part of the South (i.e. east of the Mississippi), so I identify with him on a basic level.

And his background is very much like mine. Mama graduated high school, and Daddy got his GED in the Air Force. She worked at Wal-Mart for years, and Daddy retired from Goodyear, where he spent over 25 years as a manual laborer.

I’m not sure that any of the viable candidates from either party really understands what that means. Simple, hard-working people who change our oil or check us out at the grocery or deliver packages to our doors. Those service-workers make up a huge segment of our workforce and deserve a champion.

I’m just not sure any of the candidates left are up to the task.

I’m afraid my decision may be made by balancing which one has eaten less of their own against real policy issues. Things like health care, tax reform, Iraq, a living wage.

As much as I want policy to rule, I don’t have much stomach for cannibals.