Time To Get Your Politic On, Baby

One of my favorite bloggers has done a few posts lately about her fascination and excitement with the launch of Presidential Primary season. She’s really into it. Oh yeah, I should mention that she is Canadian. That fact has got me thinking I’m not living up to my full potential or exercising my American rights with regard to politics. Let me explain in a little more detail. I hear the name Hillary and I think instantly of Sir Edmund Hillary, the first confirmed summiter of Mt. Everest. I hear the name Barack and think of lots of bun beds in a row. I know that’s ‘barrack’ but I can’t help what I think. If I could, I wouldn’t cry hysterically every time I sit down in my little cubicle or get goosebumps whenever I see the perfect cube of cheese arranged on a fancy platter (which isn’t near often enough, by the way).

I hear the name Huckabee and giggle like a 12 year old school girl, I hear the name Ron Paul and think of Pat Paulsen from The Smothers Brothers Show, I hear John Edwards and worry about Crossing Over, Gerald Ford and I think of Chevy Chase, Jimmy Carter and I think of the Planters Peanut Man (then I get hungry; it’s a vicious cycle). I hear George Bush Senior and I picture Phil Hartman in jogging shorts at a Mickey D’s. I hear the name Bill Clinton and I hear ‘bown chicka bown bown.’

Don’t get me wrong, I do enjoy American presidential politics and even minored in Political Science for a little while during college. It was only when I discovered that we weren’t going to be dissecting politicians and examining them under microscopes that I dropped the pursuit of that as a minor. People really need to be careful in the future how liberally they apply the word ‘science.’ Despite the context in which I think about politics and candidates, I would like to think that I have some political awareness. After all, I did meet Ronald Reagan 10 years ago and still consider that a life highlight; I’m finishing up a biography of him now and will be heading to his library early next month. I remember fondly the excitement I felt voting in my first presidential election when I was 18. So what if my write in candidate Joe Isuzu didn’t win. That’s a joke folks. I took my first election very seriously. I wrote in Magic Johnson.

In the past, I have started to get excited about the Presidential election in September or October. That’s the stretch run and when things get really interesting. Perhaps I should start paying attention earlier this time around. The California primary has been moved up to February from its old June date. That’s less than a month away. While this may not be the Golden Age of Presidential Campaigning (universally defined as the era where candidates’ fathers used the mob and Sinatra to win elections, one party broke into the other party’s hotel headquarters, Gary Hart posed for a photo with a hotty on his lap and Michael Dukakis drove a tank), but it is an unprecedented time in American politics. Especially for the Democratic Party. Seriously, they don’t have a candidate that invented the internet or married into ketchup money. Uh, what did you think I meant?

I don’t know that I’ll go out and volunteer at my local campaign headquarters, but I’ll certainly follow the nominating process and the news coverage of it much more closely as we head towards the big conventions this summer. As an American, it’s the very least I can do. I mean, who knows when the writer’s strike will end, right?