2012 Election, part 1: My voting histroy

As I envision myself doing a good deal of political commentary over the next fifteen months I am going to lay out my voting history for the purposes of explanation.

First, I am not a registered member of either political party and have no intentions of ever doing so. In my life I have seen both parties hijacked by extremism, and I don’t see how that has done the country any good. I intend to keep my options open.

My first presidential election was 1992, and I voted for Ross Perot. I know, I know, I wasted my voted and helped get Bill Clinton elected. Bush was, in many ways, a typical Republican candidate – he struggled to connect with young voters, and the ones he did connect with alienated other young voters (a note to College Republicans – you all need to step back and appreciate how much you hurt your cause). I couldn’t get behind Clinton because of all the infidelity, which I realize is not exclusive to him in the history of politics, but his was just so “in your face” it was too much for me.

I also firmly believe no one in the Democratic Party really believed Clinton would win the nomination when he entered the race. He was a “we’re punting against an incumbent” candidate much like Mondale and Kerry were. But with Perot changing the landscape and what turned out to be Clinton’s all-star campaign team, he pulled it off. And as a voter I was 0–1.

In 1996 I went with Dole over Clinton. Dole was too rigid, came off badly on TV (until after the election when he turned out to be a great interview) but Clinton just oozed full of shitness and I could never get on board with him. I had no illusions Clinton would win. I’m 0-2 at this point.

2000, ah 2000, the year William Rehnquist decided who would be President. I voted for Bush, but really I voted against Gore (this was the second time voting against, the first being Clinton – Dole). Gore was a little too cozy with China, and he unfairly carried the stench of all of Clinton’s extraneous activities. And he still managed to get more votes than Bush, just not where they counted.

(This brings me to a brief aside due for its own blog entry: the Electoral College needs an overhaul, and I propose the following – the electors are the Members and Senators of Congress. If you win the state, you get both Senators’ votes. If you win the member’s district, you get their vote. No more winning L.A. and S.F. and pulling California. That is bullshit.)

Getting back to 2000, the Supreme Court effectively ended the standoff, and Gore stepped aside (but too late to salvage his political career), and my guy won, but he didn’t really win, so I am going to call that a tie, 0–2–1.

We come to 2004 and leading up to this election, my office (not just my company, but my actual office) is within earshot of Arlington, and every morning I listen to the funeral guns, and I believe going into Iraq was a mistake.

(Second aside also due for a complete blog entry: While going to Iraq was a mistake, leaving is a bigger one. We made this mess. We destabilized that region. If we pick up and leave, we’ll be back 5 years doing this all over again.)

I cannot capture the mental toll listening to those guns every morning took on me, and so I voted Kerry (really, against Bush), again with no real belief he could win. 0–3–1.

And 2008, I voted for Obama (against Palin, because I believed the toll being President has taken on people in our lifetime would have ended McCain). Palin was a poor choice meant to court people by saying, “Hey, look, we’re not all white males over here either.” I don’t like to be patronized. So I booked a win, 1–3–1.

For the most part, I can live with Obama. My major objection to his methodology is his apparent insistence on “go big or go home” solutions. Those are too much for people, and in as much as many people will agree that health care and government spending need reform, incremental steps can fix these problems better than “grand bargains.” I believe you do not need to go hunting for whale when tuna will feed your family.

As to 2012, I can only say to this point no one in the Republican field has captured me, and, to my registered Republican readers (if I haven’t lost you already), you need to look at selecting a candidate like a business decision – not based on ideology but on who can actually win a national election. Right now, you don’t have that candidate. And I want you to have that candidate, because that level of competition, two legitimately engaging candidates, brings the entire election and system up. I would love to see that, and to vote for someone instead of against someone.

That's where I am historically as a voter. Now we start moving forward addressing issues and candidates.