Wednesday, October 27, 2004

seasonal disorder

America creaks towards an election that may have a decisive outcome (the nature of the electoral college magnifies these 50 state contests -- Reagan barely beat Carter in key states, but it was an electoral blow-out) or it may not.

There is no humor left in this election. There are no happy warriors this year.

But at least we have the fall season. Some trees have completely lost their leaves. Others continue in their brilliance. Winter is ahead and I am thinking of Rilke's poem about autumn -- hurry up with activities because the time for outdoor activity is about to end for a season.

I'd be remiss to ignore the president's statement on Sunday to ABC's Charlie Gibson that he supports letting the state's provide legal protections for same sex couples as long as it is not called marriage.

There were a few references on other sites yesterday about it. This is fairly close to what Senator Kerry supports. Of course, Kerry did not support the Federal Marrriage Amendment. It's fairly obvious that when the president announced the need to amend the Constitution, he didn't mention that he thought gay couples needed legal protection. At the Republican Convention, he overlooked this as well while again promoting the FMA.

In politics, the middle doesn't like unfairness, so his message may be directed towards straight folk who are not keen on amending the Constitution over this issue. I am not very comforted that he would say this a week before the election, but I will acknowledge that he made it.

At this point of whipped-up cultural distinctions, the president could have reached out to the whole country on a host of issues. He started doing that with education, but then he quit. This war could have been handled differently, but instead anybody who questioned the president's judgment, or his choices, both at the UN and once we invaded in terms of securing Iraq with adequate troops were ignored or their patriotism questioned. One gets the feeling that this president has a severe dislike and distrust of many of his fellow citizens.

Instead, he pitched his tent with the religious right. If he wins, it will be because of them, and if he loses, likewise.

1 comment:

lemming said...

I find it telling that after four years - four pretty dramatic years - that GWB hasn't attracted more support among voters... well, at least according to the latest on-line poll I read. I still expect him to be President come January, but then again, I am a Red Sox fan.