As most of you who have read this blog know, I lean slightly to the liberal side in political thought. I know, right? I mean, who would have ever imagined that was true based on my prior posts?
I've never been shy about it. But I haven't posted much on the election this year...in sharp contrast to 2008. True, in 2008 I was still living in California and I was motivated by my almost desperate opposition to Prop 8, which I always felt had a scary possibility of passing. Fears which were, of course, ultimately proven to be prescient.
This year, there is no Prop 8 to post about and I have also fallen prey to a bit of the ambivalence that many of my liberal brethren have. Four years ago, Barack Obama was not just a candidate, he was an impossible dream. Not only his race, although that was undeniably a part of it. No, it was his appeal to the positive side of us that helped generate so much enthusiasm.
I am much more motivated by hope than I am by fear. I know that may sound a little off based on the fact that I just invoked Prop 8, but I still believe it to be true.
The other thing is that while I bitch and moan about negatives as much as anyone, I rarely want to write more than a soundbite on them. And this 2012 campaign seems to be all about the negative. Obama is not preaching hope and change, he is attacking Romney... and Mitt? Oh, wow. I have so little positive feeling about the man. The last time I posted, it was about the bullying that had come to light. And now, I am writing on the heels of his 47% gaffe...
Only, it is hard to call it a gaffe when the attitude behind it has been so consistently made clear.
I am amazed that this is still a race. Yet, it is. There is a long time to go before the election. We haven't even had any debates yet.
I started out today thinking I was going to express my feelings about Mitt and his abhorrent comments... but there is time for that still. Now, as I type, the thought most in the forefront of my mind is bewilderment.
How have we, the grass roots who drove Obama to the White House, managed to show so much apathy this year? Mitt Romney makes John McCain look progressive. I went into 2008 thinking that it wouldn't be the worst thing ever if McCain won. I had far more confidence in him than I do in Mitt. Yet, I fought hard for Obama. In words published and spoken to friends and strangers alike.
I haven't been motivated to do that as forcefully this year. And I am not sure I understand that, because I think Mitt Romney would be an absolute disaster for this nation.
I need to speak out more. And all of us who look at the possibility of a Romney presidency with the same trepidation I do need to join me.
In 2008, despite all I did do, I spent the weeks after the election wondering if I could have done more to defeat H8. And that was after I could honestly say I had worked at it and sacrificed much, including a friendship that had lasted since 1982 and has never recovered from the hurtful feelings exchanged over that election.
I don't want to do the same with Romney. So, polls that show a widening Obama lead don't comfort me. They scare me. Because I think the worst enemy we have, and the thing the Republicans are counting on, is complacency among those who swept Obama into office.
It's time to get off the couch.
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