Politics Are Like Football

It’s a new game but the rules have not changed.

This year I have yet to watch a complete game of football; a combination of schedule and lack of interest due to the tabloid effect of the game. More attention seems to have been given to athletes off the field than on the field. By the time Sunday roles around, I just seem to have lost my interest.

Philly born and raised I was shocked Sunday before past to see a small portion of the Eagles game against the Giants. (Of course McNabb had just given up a safety) but I was glad to have seen them doing so well late in the season. (Anyone from Philly knows how Philly teams can fall apart at the worst moments). I have been in AZ long enough to know the Cardinal fans (and who are not Cardinal fans). Yesterday the Cards beat the Eagles. I have no idea what happened but my phone was blowing up with text messages! "We are going to the Super Bowl" One after the other. The thing that got my attention was not who beat who but who was sending me these text messages - non football fans. The Arizona Football Band Wagon has just begun loading. Not real fans, just people who want to be associated with a winner.

How does this type of thing compare to politics? This past election contained the exact same Band Wagoning effect. Flocks and flocks of Obama supports popping up out of nowhere with ever slight voice and slighter knowledge about him or his positions. The fact was simple, it looked as if he could win easily and people flocked aboard. "Devout" supporters changed their web pages to adorn his pictures and propaganda. As inauguration draws near their pages and default pictures have gone back to pre-election themes. Very open in their support but very closed as to why they support(ed) him.

I challenge everything (many of you know that all too well). This case was no different. People who openly supported Obama in this manner I questioned. Just basic questions, nothing hard, nothing controversial, nothing over the edge. The problem was they could not answer the questions. And we are talking EASY questions! "Why are you voting for Obama?" was the number one unanswerable question. A voter who changes their web page to a candidate should be able (and willing) to answer such a simple question (it’s not like it is hard to tell who they are voting for and support). Post election I went back to these very ‘avid, open and devout’ supporters and inquired about current events and his positions. Nothing. (These individuals pages are again adorned with Obama for the inauguration). One person who did answer the ‘why’ question said that she was ready for change and it was about time some one stood up for the bottom 5%. Another said that Obama lived a life more similar to his and did not have the silver spoon up bringing that McCain did (as it turned out he voted against Obama’s positions on his local level). Yet another said that America is ready for a Black president and she wanted to be apart of that historic moment (not in those words but essentially that is what she meant). A few others were not so much voting for Obama as they were voting against McCain. Of the 375 people I talked to, ONE person made accurate representations to his politics and his positions. One. If this is not a Band Wagon nothing is.

The problem with Band Wagon fans is that they lack depth and understanding. They are not in it for the right reasons. Consequently, the last on the bus is the first off the bus. The ones who just want to be associated with a winner have nothing invested, no time spent researching the candidate to understand if he is good match for them and their views, no time researching the issues that will transform the nation in the forth coming years; they have nothing to lose (or so they think). Most have voted out of gross ignorance, out of emotion and not logic and reason, or against some one else; the manifestation of this resulted in overwhelming numbers for a new elected official and those responsible simply can not articulate why. (Allow me to grant exclusion; Kima probably could - I did not question her, Sandi was on MySpace hiatus at the time and Tiff is a political science major and had she not been able to I think I would have shot myself! So this is not to say that all that voted for Obama are idiots or did so with out due cause - just the overwhelming majority).

My concern is this; Band Wagon fans are no different than a person who is a friend when times are good and bails when things get tough. (A leaf as Keysha puts it). Many of those that voted their support did so for the wrong reasons and not understanding what was going on. Helping the bottom 5% type stuff, things like that. Once it becomes clear that there will always be a bottom 5% that person feels slighted and abandons the fight. I have said this over and over and over. The manner in which Obama has gotten elected puts him in a position of needing those that supported him. These fly by night supports pose a threat in that once their unreasonable expectations go unmet they will fail to support him when he will need it most.

People voted for him, but against his agendas on the local government levels. California serves as a good example; the popular vote went to Obama but his key agenda items were defeated at the state level. What this means is that people who supported the idea of him being president did not support his positions (or probably did not even know what they were). This is how you handcuff a politician; you vote him into office and in turn you vote against his programs at the local level. People who are waiting on his programs will not see them because the "Band Wagon" did not know what they were and were not actually supporting them from a cognitive position. This will lead to contention in time and he will be viewed as just another lying politician. (No argument there) but in this case for the wrong reasons. What’s right is right and what’s wrong is wrong; and that’s wrong. In fact, though more liberals were elected to office, even more conservative agendas were voted in. (???) This people, is voter ignorance and it is going to lead to a problem. Here you have liberal leadership with passed conservative propositions across the country. Conflict is on the horizon!

If proposition 8 failed in CA how can a president who is Baptized under the Trinity (who supports equal marriage rights) attain that agenda? How can a liberal whose goal is to reform gun control meet that agenda if the states are voting conservatively on liberal agenda items such as these? Here’s a thought for ya! (An alarming thought at that). In CA they are looking to take Porp 8 back to court to overrule the vote. If CA entertains this; I am pretty much done. Not because I do or do not support Porp 8 but because I support the right to vote and be heard. Overruling a vote defeats the purpose of voting and throws our nation back to the pre revolution days of British American. (Forgive me, that would be the American Revolutionary War or the American War of Independence; 1775 - 1783).

A side note about our voters; One person here kept sending bulletin after bulletin about voting YES on Prop 8. After so many of these damn bulletins I went to her page to see what she had to say about it - she meant to say vote NO! (And yes, She voted for Obama).

Where am I going with this? Now that we have gotten people to vote, the next step is get them to vote responsibly and stand by their vote! Here we have called for change while at the same time inhibiting change. In the days, months and years to come our president is going to fall under political fire just as all presidents do. My concern is who will support him then? The Band Wagon does not stay boarded for very long. And let’s face it. Had Obama been Bush, he would have been impeached. There are times that we give ourselves credit for coming further than we actually have. Obama will push what was commonly accepted in the direction of change and come under attack for it. We know who won’t be in his corner at that time. Where will you be?

And no, I did not vote for Obama! If I had it to do over again, I still would not vote for him. I like him, I think he is very smart and even a few of his ideas are good. My concern though is not with the here and now, my concern is down the road and where will be as a nation in the future. His positions are far too liberal for me, I do not believe in socialism (in terms of economic socialism) and I believe closing Gitmo and prematurely ending the war will have detrimental consequences that will span for generations while it redefines world monotheistic religions, subjects the US to future attacks on our soil and too many of his positions I see as being bad for the American people in the long run. BUT! When America speaks its words should not only be heard, they should be respected. I see problems; (it is what I do for a living) and to avoid the problems I understand the fact that they need to first be brought forth . (I am not the I told you so type - unless you bet against me over a sporting event). Here we have a very large group of pseudo supports who will in time, become problematic. We need to start offsetting that now in order to mitigate (or even circumvent) a serious political nightmare. So, from that perspective I am on the team - but that perspective only. People who change their page and profess their support but have no idea what and who they are supporting? It is hard to get more shallow than that. That will lead to apathy and if you have been doing your reading, that apathy is what got Bush to where he ended up - only this time it will not take 8 years and people who so called voted for him are going line up against him. And that’s bullshit.

Just one man’s opinion.

-T