I don’t pretend to have an amazing insight into political science and effective campaign strategy, but I have a fair share of common sense. This past year we’ve been bombarded with political messages. The message promoted by the Obama camp was “Change”. I understood that to mean he intended to do things differently and many people I’ve talked to shared that opinion. I really didn’t expect Obama to live up to that message. I’m a realist. I don’t believe in Utopia or any of that nonsense. Any politician that makes any promise is most likely lying.
This past month Obama has made two major mistakes that send a message counter to the momentum he’s built. The first mistake was going negative with campaign ads. The negative ads aren’t working for him. Any political strategist worth paying would have strongly urged him to stick to positive messages. He also made a major mistake with one of his negative ads. It’s a really poor idea to point out your opponent is rich, when you yourself are quite well off. It doesn’t matter how many houses McCain owns. What he does with his money is his business so long as it is not illegal or unethical. Buying a house is neither, especially when some of these homes are used by elderly relatives. The Obama ad also brought up that one of the real estate agents McCain used for a purchase was a convicted felon. Is that relevant? Was this person convicted before or after the sale and was the crime related to real estate? The ad doesn’t go into details and I haven’t bothered to look it up because it is not an issue. Don’t Democrats believe in second chances and rehabilitation? After a felon has served their time shouldn’t they be given a chance to rejoin society and the job market? I also got a laugh out of the fact that the Obama camp would dare mention a felon in regards to real estate. Why would they reopen that avenue of attack? Anyone else remember that one of Obama’s major supporters was recently convicted of corruption charges? To make it worse, this supporter was connected to a real estate deal that added additional property to the lot Obama’s house sits on. His camp got so excited about going negative that they went blind and stupid. I’m left to ponder if the campaign is out of his control, which raises questions of his leadership abilities, or if he lacks good judgment and tact.
The second and most recent, possibly fatal, mistake was naming Joe Biden as his running mate. That is no less damaging than holding a press conference and saying, “you know that change thing I was talking about for months, I was kidding”. A political insider with over three decades in Washington is very, very far from change. The fallout from that is only just beginning. I expect the next few weeks to have many annoying investigative news stories and campaign ads. I just can’t believe that he’d pick Biden. That man has been involved with politics so long that the skeletons must number in the thousands. I guess it’s a good thing Obama is a golden child for raising funds. He’ll need the hush money to fend off the inevitable Biden related controversies that will come to light.
I also have to say that rumor that McCain will pick Mitt Romney is also a massive mistake. I won’t go into all the reasons I don’t like Romney, but I’m with a great many of Americans that cannot stomach that man.
This election sucks. Wake me up in December.
While I was watching the Olympics last night I happened to channel surf onto a program on PBS called America’s Test Kitchen. Does it make sense that I was watching the Olympics and channel surfing? Yes and no. I was interested in watching some of the events, but NBC is doing everything they can to broadcast the Olympics, but drive away any viewer with a brain between their ears. The color commentators are simply useless and the human interest stories videographic representations of vomit. Anyway, I was watching America’s Test Kitchen and they were making a stew. The whole point is that they used of bottle of Rex Goliath Pinot Noir in the recipe. It’s not a terrible wine. It’s not good either. Of course one of the few places you’ll find it is Trader Joe’s. Later I watched the movie Drillbit Taylor. The main character is a bum and guess his wine of choice? Two Buck Chuck. Another one Trader Joe’s offerings.
Has TJ’s been working on a product placement marketing plan, am I just starting to notice these things that have always been going on or was it just a coincidence?
I think wine customers are rather odd in Wisconsin. Many will shy away from a bottle that costs $8, but will happily grab a six pack of beer for $7.99. The price and quality relationship for wine and beer is fairly similar. Not all costly offerings are great, but almost all cheap offerings are garbage. The area between is where you can make those great discoveries at a great price. Make no mistake, if you buy a bottle of wine for less than $6.00, it will taste like it cost less than $6.00. It won’t necessarily taste bad, but it won’t taste surprising or pleasurable. If you’re just looking to get buzzed, go knock yourself out. Just don’t buy a few bottles of cheap wine and tell your friends that it makes a great cooking wine. Your friends will either assume you have poor taste in alcohol (which you do) or that you don’t know a damn thing about cooking with wine (which you don’t). They may also think you’re a closet alcoholic and you buy cheap booze so you can afford the habit.
Here’s a hint for those of you out there on the internets. When you cook a wine into a food, the flavors of the wine go into the food. If you use a bad wine, you’ll get bad food. Makes sense right? So why do so many people still insist that a cheap crappy wine is good for cooking? The answer is simple. People are idiots. They have poor taste, don’t think and repeat the dumbest things they’ve been told in their unenlightened miserable lives.
Which brings us full circle right back to the Olympics. Each one is worse than the last. The controversies, the network coverage and IOC nonsense. The commercialism of the Olympics is the dumbest thing. Does McDonald’s really expect us to believe that world class athletes have been waiting their whole lives for the perfect chicken sandwich which now available at a rat infested shack with a drive-thru window? Does it make any sense that Visa is the only card accepted at the Olympics? Wouldn’t a promotion like that only serve to irritate people that are trying to spend money at the events? The sad thing is, these promotions and commercials obviously do work. It’s been the norm for decades and these businesses are thriving. People are stupid and I hate them.
I left Iraq at 6:00 am this past Friday. Five days later I’m almost home. In less than five hours I’ll be breathing Wisconsin air.
As I sit here at the Syracuse Airport I have an unusual desire to attempt to phrase my awesome journey in a haiku. There two problems though. I don’t actually know the proper way to write a haiku and I need a dramatic climax before the journey ends. I’m hoping for a fierce battle with a hydra. The Vikings had a few things right. Slightly exggerated tales is one of them.
In a matter of hours I’ll defy gravity and begin my journey home. It may surprise some, but I don’t like flying. I wouldn’t say I’m afraid of flying. It’s something between fear and discomfort. I’ve had several bad experiences flying and every time I get on a plane I’m concerned that it will be another bad experience. Maybe I don’t like flying because I have no control and my life depends on the skill and composure of strangers. It also doesn’t help that military personnel on airplanes have historically been a prime target for terrorists. I’ll relax when the only thing between Madison and my feet are my awesome Adidas shoes. That’s right, I have my super fantastic colorful Adidas kicks with me. When you travel halfway around the world, always remember your towel and a cool pair of shoes.