Suspending my campaign
A lot of people don't pay attention to an election until the last few weeks leading up to the vote. I probably could have learned everything I now know about McCain and Obama in two months. But instead, I've been following them for two years.
Why? Maybe I should concentrate on other things. It may seem like the most important thing in the world at times, but I'm starting to wonder if maybe I'm glued to the New York Times political blog and Politico.com for the wrong reasons.
Bush won in 2000 and I cried out of a genuine sense of grief and frustration. He was the wrong person and he was going to fuck things up. And sure enough....
And then Bush won again in 2004 and I fell into a depression, demoralized by the fact that so many people had come out to vote for him because they felt a pressing need to vote against gay marriage. Rove had used me as bait and I felt as helpless and used as a worm on a hook.
But my life didn't end. It got better. I'm enjoying school, Drew and I are doing better than ever, and I honestly have very few complaints about my life.
Why, then, am I so completely consumed by this? Every phone call with every friend or family member has to touch on the latest campaign news. Drew and I know every day's poll numbers. We fret over every signal of any slight possibility that Obama might not win.
I'm not accomplishing anything by doing this. Bush's failures weren't my failures and Obama's success isn't going to be my success. At least not directly. I'm starting to wonder if maybe I'm feeling so stymied right now by med school (I want to get out there and actually accomplish something) that I'm subconsciously tuning out some of my own responsibilities and pretending that somehow an Obama victory will be a reflection of my own hard work. It sounds a little nutty, but you should spend a day with me and you'd realize how completely wrapped up in this thing I've become.
I want to live in a more progressive, open country. I know wanting him to win and working towards that goal isn't a total waste of time or anything. But, honestly, I need to tune it out every once in a while.
We watched Meet the Press this morning; McCain didn't say anything we hadn't heard him say a hundred times before. We could guess his responses before Brokaw finished the questions. That's because McCain isn't talking to us. We're not undecided. We should get back to work. If I'm not going to phonebank for Obama today then I shouldn't incessantly check gallup.com. It's pointless.
So I'm swearing off the following things:
- Drudge Report
- Polling data
- MSNBC clips online
- "The Caucus Blog" on NYTimes.com
- the current electoral map
- electoral maps from the last forty years
- Politico.com
- Crooksandliars.com
- Sarah Palin jokes
If I want to do something useful I can pick up the phone and try to convince people to vote for Obama. Otherwise I should really be studying about lung diseases.
Why? Maybe I should concentrate on other things. It may seem like the most important thing in the world at times, but I'm starting to wonder if maybe I'm glued to the New York Times political blog and Politico.com for the wrong reasons.
Bush won in 2000 and I cried out of a genuine sense of grief and frustration. He was the wrong person and he was going to fuck things up. And sure enough....
And then Bush won again in 2004 and I fell into a depression, demoralized by the fact that so many people had come out to vote for him because they felt a pressing need to vote against gay marriage. Rove had used me as bait and I felt as helpless and used as a worm on a hook.
But my life didn't end. It got better. I'm enjoying school, Drew and I are doing better than ever, and I honestly have very few complaints about my life.
Why, then, am I so completely consumed by this? Every phone call with every friend or family member has to touch on the latest campaign news. Drew and I know every day's poll numbers. We fret over every signal of any slight possibility that Obama might not win.
I'm not accomplishing anything by doing this. Bush's failures weren't my failures and Obama's success isn't going to be my success. At least not directly. I'm starting to wonder if maybe I'm feeling so stymied right now by med school (I want to get out there and actually accomplish something) that I'm subconsciously tuning out some of my own responsibilities and pretending that somehow an Obama victory will be a reflection of my own hard work. It sounds a little nutty, but you should spend a day with me and you'd realize how completely wrapped up in this thing I've become.
I want to live in a more progressive, open country. I know wanting him to win and working towards that goal isn't a total waste of time or anything. But, honestly, I need to tune it out every once in a while.
We watched Meet the Press this morning; McCain didn't say anything we hadn't heard him say a hundred times before. We could guess his responses before Brokaw finished the questions. That's because McCain isn't talking to us. We're not undecided. We should get back to work. If I'm not going to phonebank for Obama today then I shouldn't incessantly check gallup.com. It's pointless.
So I'm swearing off the following things:
- Drudge Report
- Polling data
- MSNBC clips online
- "The Caucus Blog" on NYTimes.com
- the current electoral map
- electoral maps from the last forty years
- Politico.com
- Crooksandliars.com
- Sarah Palin jokes
If I want to do something useful I can pick up the phone and try to convince people to vote for Obama. Otherwise I should really be studying about lung diseases.
Labels: Drew, Medical School, Politics