We're on the last page of the old 2011 calendar at our house and my husband made the comment that it'll be 2012 "before we know it". Most years that revelation would be met with mild bemusement but this year it was met with a grimace.
2012...a presidential election year.
Another year of robo calls and hyperbole about politicians wanting to choke the life of hard working Americans with higher taxes on the rich. More radio and TV and internet and print advertisements meant to instill fear and loathing and disgust into the electorate to the point that we would gladly vote for Hitler just to stop the oppresive barrage of negative advertising.
And beyond campaigns, we'll have the media parrot choir cawing about how So and so looks so presidential and how you'd really like to have a beer with So and so and completely ignoring everything the candidates actually say or what record they're CLAIMING to run on. This is not Miss/Mister USA. This is not about crowning the next beauty king/queen of this nation's corn festival. We need to select someone to run one of 3 branches of the federal government, not to mention the various elections accross the nation to re-establish the house of representatives and 1/3 of the Senate.
This is, to quote Joe Biden, a Big Fucking Deal, but the media treats it like the next season of "American Idol".
The only saving grace is that we don't have a primary on the Dem side for president. Whether you like, love, or loathe Obama, we are pretty much stuck with him and he is almost guaranteed to be better than whatever foaming pile the republicans put up. There will be no pie fights or walkouts or "strikes" or PUMA-parties on dailykos about who is awesome-sauce and who is going to save our nation from theocrats who want to destroy our economy so they can feel better about themselves.
So as we gird ourselves for the new year, let's take a moment and remember that we are all in this together. The advertising, the media stupidity, the projections of greatness, the declarations of incompetence, we're all going to have to endure this together.
So...let's try and have some fun shall we? IF such a thing is possible.
(And for the record, no I would not vote for Hitler, even under duress.)