molly likes michelle

despite my distance from the US, i am keenly interested in the american election. i read extensively online and in our daily newspaper and we get the daily show with only one day's delay. i'll admit my viewpoint is filtered through the brilliance of jon stewart and his team. but that's mostly because it fits my political leanings anyway. liberal political leanings which have only been strengthened by 14 years of living in europe.

i have closely followed both last week's republican convention and this week's democratic one. it strikes me that there is a marked difference. last week's felt far more mean-spirited, but i will admit that the democrats have a hard time overcoming the bleak economic picture. it has been a hard slog, overcoming the mess that obama was handed by the dangerous war-mongering buffoonery of the bush administration (which people seem to forget), and admittedly, things aren't there yet.

molly and i watched both michelle obama's speech and bill clinton's speech in their entirety today. molly really liked michelle. and so did i. i found what she had to say beyond reproach and have been pleasantly surprised to see that there has been little criticism of her (at least from what i could find online). bill showed, once again, his particular brand of authentic charisma. he really is something. i loved the shots of chelsea sitting next to steve jobs' widow (interesting to see what that was about), looking proudly on at her father. he struck the right notes - he was honest, but real and convincing. and who else could make you listen, riveted, as he talked about medicare block grants? seriously, that man is a gifted speaker.

but honestly, i worry about the political rhetoric in the US. it seems so filled with hate these days. so polarized and extreme. things that don't seem like they are relevant issues - rape, abortion, gay marriage - to whether a person is qualified to be the president take up the forefront. my impression is that the democrats are at least trying to talk about the economy and the future in a more hopeful way, rather than spending time on lies (see Paul Ryan's speech), misrepresentations (again, Paul Ryan) and issues (see that asshole from Missouri) that are irrelevant.

but i think what's contributing to making this election seem like the worst, most vitriolic one ever is actually facebook. i'm simply astounded at some of my facebook friends. i mean, i knew a few of them watched fox news, but i wasn't clear on how much they believed it and how filled with hate they seem to be. and i simply don't understand it. how one can be in a same-sex relationship and work for the government and still be rabidly against the democratic platform i am at a loss to understand. and don't even get me started on those who simply cannot possibly afford to be republicans...

but bill's speech put the thoughts i was beginning to have about changing my passport (for all of my complaints about denmark, at least i don't ever feel i have to be ashamed of it and i've felt ashamed of america on more than one occasion recently as i watched or read the news (or the olympic coverage)) out of my head for now. but time will tell, i guess. and in the meantime, all i can do is vote (as many times as i can - that being the advantage of being registered to vote in chicago). 

i hope you will too. and when you do, i hope it will be for the good guys. because they're not yet done cleaning up the mess bush left.