idiotropic

Over the past several days, I’ve been coming to terms with the fact that the burning fire of my political interest burns cooler without being stoked by antipathy towards the duplicitous Clintons. Of all things, I suppose it is the absurd that truly interests me, and I think it was the vociferous absurdity of her campaign that ultimately drew me to the primary race. The ridiculous assertions that were sort of factual yet totally disingenuous — these were the sweet morsels of preposterousness that fed my interest in the Clintons and their pals. Looking forward, I realize I may be somewhat starved for absurdity in the remaining presidential campaign. Unless, of course, John McCain wins.

Obviously, I’m still enthusiastic about Obama, his judicial ability to deal with nuance, and his journalistic ability at self-analysis. As he addressed supporters in St. Paul after the Montana and South Dakota primaries, I was able to envision, for the first time, an Obama administration. I was inspired by the fact that I was inspired to maybe think about applying to work for his government — working for government being something I had never under any other circumstance considered.

I’m fairly confident that Obama will win in November. But not totally confident. However, this match-up of McCain vs. Obama is uninteresting because there’s really no contest. What I’ve said before about the primaries is really true here: this is not a test of Obama or of McCain, it’s a test of the American political system. The correct answer to the question “Who should be the next President?” is so obvious that we don’t even need the teacher’s exam key. Election Day ‘08 will not be the day that Obama and McCain find out who did better on the test for the Presidency, it will be the day that we find out if our country passes or fails the test of whether it still functions.