I am perplexed. When’s the last time we had an ugly President? Taft? He wasn’t pretty, but had a commanding presence. Johnson? Not pretty, but he had moxie…until they messed up Vietnam and he got tired (realized he couldn’t win). Nixon? He looked weird all right, but how weird for 1968? Not all that weird.
I think you have to go all the way back to Lincoln to find a President to qualify as “ugly”, at least for the standards of the time. Even still, he was a brilliant orator, well before TV, and 24-hour news cycles, and back when optometry hadn’t really reached the masses.
There just aren’t any. None. Nada. Back in 2000, there was a poll that stated that 58% of people would have rather had a beer with Bush than Gore. Guess who “won”. Policy was a secondary consideration. In 2004, Kerry seemed like Frankenstein, eclipsing any real policy initiatives that he might have championed, that and the spandex…ewwwwww.
Why is ANY political race more of a beauty contest than an honest debate on the issues? Is it because we are shallow? Yes, that’s part of it, but more because we’re egotistical. We expect our “leaders” to look and sound like us, to share our interests, to be a well manicured and overly fluffed…but not too much, a reflection of ourselves. It’s part comfort level, part self-affirming/deprecating crap.
There’s been this artificial flap going on about John Edwards’ $400 haircut. Those of you who know me know I’ve never seen a pair of shears that I don’t HATE. But I don’t blame John Edwards. He’s doing what he has to do to get elected, and a BIG part of that is looking good. That his $400 hairdo has come out is more of a political attempt to make him look like Bill Clinton, more than anything else. It’s brilliant strategy Hillary, considering that he has 10 times more defined policy out there than any of them (for the record I have no horse in this premature race…yet).
The problem is not the ridiculously priced haircut (though I still maintain, you get paid what you can negotiate), the problem is that some of us are buying it. Are we that stupid?
Apparently so, we’re weak, primarily because we allow ourselves to be, and need someone or something to justify ourselves. We need counseling…or just another re-run of Grey’s Anatomy to show us how messed up we aren’t, or what Dr. Mc Dreamy is wearing.
Come on people. Is this what the “American Dream” has become? A cathode ray tube (or LCD if you’re really hi-tech) induced slobber fest over the pretty face of the moment? I highly doubt this is what the founding fathers had in mind while debating our form of government.
If you don’t vote, you have no right to complain. If you don’t pay attention you get what you deserve. If you judge based on appearance, you get a pretty cake that tastes like crap. Get the picture?
We’ve all got a bone to pick with the gubament, even when our “guy” is in there. I look at it a different way. Are we mad at the government for not doing what we want, or are we mad at ourselves for being too damn lazy to get it done.
At best, it’s both, but in reality, if you don’t like what’s going on, you have no one but yourself to blame. Get out there and do something, or shut up.
…and to all, a good night.
/righteous indignance