It cracks me up how absolutely sure people are that they know who will win the U.S. election. If you ask any European, they are 100% positive that Obama will win. From talking to them, you would think the race has already been decided and Obama is ready to be sworn in as soon as the logistics get settled. However, if you ask a fair number of Southerners, they are sure McCain will win. As of yesterday, a Gallup poll showed that 45% of registered voters would vote for Obama and 44% for McCain -- obviously neither is the clear winner just yet.
Personally, I can't wait for a new president to be in office, and not for the reasons most people seem to have. I am so sick of every European bashing George Bush. I don't even care about politics and have no real opinion about what Bush has or has not done. But the way people feel completely free to just trash him gets on my nerves. Most recently I have heard people here referring to Bush as Hitler. Now Bush might have made some bad decisions about things, but to compare him to Hitler is just ridiculous. Has Bush built concentration camps and set out to eradicate an entire race of people?
Kyle recently pointed out that people seem to never be at a loss for words criticizing Bush, yet they don't have nearly as much to say about Putin or the communist regime of China. Perhaps it is because they would be thrown in jail for saying anything negative about the government if they were living in either of those countries. I think if we are fortunate enough to live in a country where you can criticize the goverment, then people should at least do so in a civilized, thoughtful manner, rather than just throwing out slurs left and right just because it is the popular thing to do.
Sometimes I am embarrassed to admit that I really have no interest in politics. However, I feel like a much more honest person than the majority of people I meet who wholeheartedly love or hate a politician. If you asked them to really specify the details and specific points on a stance the politican has taken, then the person would be at a loss for words. It really used to drive me crazy when you would drive around Athens, GA, (home of UGA) back in 2004 and all you saw were "W. The President" stickers on every college kid's car. I have a feeling about 98 percent of those kids didn't have a clue about Bush's position on anything.
If people are well-informed about why they like or don't like a certain candidate then I enjoy hearing their discussions. But when people take a strong stance and then have no clue what their candidate actually stands for, that really bugs me.
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