First of all, I have to give props to a video. I’ve seen three by this guy who does a Barack Obama impression, and this is the best by far. Ok, I am watching a fourth one, and the third one is still the best. Oh god, now I’m watching the Beyonce video that inspired the fourth video I watched. It’s horrible. I have to wash my eyes out with soap now. Back to the video I’ve embedded. It’s a hip-hop version of Obama’s Non-State-of-the-Union Address, and it’s actually a pretty concise summary of everything PRESIDENT Obama has done thus far.
It’s weirdly catchy, and I can’t stop watching it!
It’s somewhat apropos as I have been musing my plunge into the political waters. See, even though I have been a Democrat at heart since, well, since birth, I think, I never paid much attention to politics. I just assumed that it was a collection of smart, thoughtful people doing the will of the public–much like Steve Benen of Washington Monthly. Check out the entry entitled Assumptions to see what I mean.
I was out of the country when I was first eligible to vote, so I didn’t follow that campaign trail at all. I would have voted for Clinton if I were in the country (the first time he was elected). After the first Clinton term, I started realizing that government, often times, is a crock of shit. I didn’t particularly care for our two-party system, and I really didn’t care for the Republicans. During the next election, I waited until later at night, saw that Clinton would win, and I voted for Nader.
Then, came the dark campaign of 2000. I was living in the Bay Area at the time, and I was nervous. The shit with Clinton and Monica Lewinsky had blown up earlier that year–by the way, am I the only one nostalgic for the days when the biggest crime committed by our president was that he let an intern blow him in the Oval Office? Ah, the good old days–and I was nervous because Al Gore was, well, Al Gore pre-getting the hell out of politics. He had distanced himself from the prez, came off as wooden and condescending, and in general, failed to wow.
To make matters worse, W.’s campaign spread stupid shit about Gore that wasn’t true (the things he said were taken out of context) or ridiculing something that Gore had said that was true (the Love Story thing). The newspaapers were complicit in this, and, well, we know what happened that painful election. There is no need to rehash it.
The thing that bummed me out the most about that election is that so many people voted for W. Even then, back before he was elected, it was clear that he wasn’t bright, that he had never done anything of note that didn’t relate to his family, and that he would not be able to lead this country. I am not saying Gore would have been a great president, but I am fairly confident he would have been better than W.
The next four years were a nightmare. After 9/11, I felt as if I couldn’t say what I truly felt at the time, and I slowly grew to loathe the American flag and what it stood for. Or, rather, what this country was insisting that it stood for. This may come as a shock, but I was actually a ‘good girl’ growing up. I never (outwardly) questioned the beliefs my parents, teachers, pastors, etc., instilled in me. No, that didn’t happen until college and after college. Then, I realized that fifty percent of what I believed as a child was pure bullshit, twenty-five percent of it was debatable, and the other twenty-five percent made sense. By the time 9/11 happened, I was a full-fledged contrarian, and a thinker to boot.
I have never felt like a citizen of this country. I have been asked where I’m from more times than I care to remember. I was told to go back to China when I was in school, and I got called ‘chink’ more than once. In fact, someone spray-painted ‘GOOK’ in silver paint onto the family car one day when I was twenty-one. It was early morning, and my parents were driving me to the airport for my semester overseas. Yeah, that was something I really wanted to have as one of the last memories of my home country. By the way, anonymous sprayer, if you’re gonna call me names, at least pick the right ones, ok? Ok.
I have always been other, and I thought I had relatively made my piece with it by my late twenties. I was wrong. Living through W.’s first term made me realize that I am much more of an other than I had previously realized. I am a Taiwanese American, single (by choice) and childfree (by choice) bi female who is a socialist-capitalist, and an agnostic-deist to boot. I did not love my country, right or wrong, and I certainly didn’t buy into the reasons for invading Iraq. I have never been a nationalist or a cheerleader of America, so I pretty much kept my mouth shut following 9/11.
Then, it was, sigh, John Kerry. Really. That’s the best we could do? I was growing frustrated with my party because it seemed out of touch in its own way. In addition, I hated the waffling it did on LGBT issues, and I really felt like the DFL was the lesser of two evils. There was no way in hell I would vote for a Republican for president because I simply do not agree with their base philosophy, but I had no desire to vote for Kerry. I did it out of duty, and then I watcheid in further depression as W. won.
That was when I lost complete faith in this country. Had I actually had the balls, I would have done what Rizzo did after Reagan was re-elected–she moved to France. Now, I probably would have only hopped over the border to Canada (I can almost see it from my house), but I never did it. Instead, I hunkered down. I didn’t pay any attention to President Bush because I knew everything he said would be a lie. In addition, watching him speak made me cringe in embarrassment and shame. Why do that to myself when there was no cure for W.?
Then along came 2008. Barack Obama. The first time I started reading lefty blogs was during the latest silly season. This is running long, so I will continue tomorrow. Or rather, later today.
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