The great irony of the Obama presidency is that a central promise of his candidacy was to reduce the corrosive cynicism pervading the citizenry regarding our political system, but dashing the hopes of huge numbers of first-time and young voters -- as the "enthusiasm gap" compellingly reveals is occurring -- will likely do more than any other single event to increase cynicism levels to all new heights. It's easy to imagine large numbers of people who decided for the first time that politics can matter -- people who were enthused supporters who expected the fundamental change they were promised by electing Barack Obama -- giving up "hope" for a long time, if not forever, in the face of a Party which now has little to say to them other than: But Look Over There at Sarah Palin!!That pretty much sums it up. I absolutely fall into this category, btw. I voted in my first presidential election in 2004, when it was just a desperate "ohdeargodgetBushthefuckoutofofficeplz" attitude. Nobody was *excited* for Kerry, but he was a democrat, and he was Not Bush. And then Obama's campaign came. I was one of the many young voters, although not a first-timer, who was swept up in the fervor. I believed with all my naive little heart. I hoped! I changed! I hoped for change! I donated time, and for the first time donated money too! And now I'm counting down until 2012 when we can see the end of the Third Term of GW Bush right alongside my Teabagger-Republican father, although for diametrically opposed reasons.
Let me tell you just how disillusioned with the Democratic Party I am: my family has always been a bit fanatical about doing one's civic duty by voting. We vote. We always vote. Growing up, my parents would each put their ballot stub on the fridge when they got home with it, and I would look at it and imagine the day when I had one to put up there, too. "If you don't vote, you can't complain" was a common refrain around our house.
This November? If I vote at all - and I'm considering not - it won't be for Dems. I might vote Green. I might not vote at all, except for the propositions (CA's prop system is so fucking broken) and voting against Meg Whitman for governor because she scares me. But even there, I'm not voting *for* Jerry Brown, I'm voting *against* Whitman. And I really truly hate that it's come to this. But there it is. Thanks, Obama administration. My bubble: you bursted it.
Now for the blognews: I realize this blog is kind of coming back from the dead all zombified right now. I have been gone a long time. No, I'm not dead. Clearly. What I am, however, is employed. Readers who follow me on Twitter know I have a job at Lane Bryant these days (a plus-sized women's clothing retailer), and may or may not have noticed that it is eating up all my time and also kind of devouring my soul. Posting has ground to a halt under the weight of stress and work and I'm trying to figure out how to fit blogging in there along with some leisure time on WoW. (How do people do it? I know there are lots of people out there who manage to work and have hobbies and a social life all at once. What am I doing wrong?) Anyway. I am sorry. I've missed it, and you, all of you, whether you comment or not.
So here it is: I'm sorry for the absence. I'm going to work on this time-management thing. While I'm still figuring it out, posting will be a bit spare, probably only once or twice a week. Hopefully that will get better with time and practice. But as of now...I am back.
