I am sick of Barack Obama.
The only time in the last week when I wasn’t sick of Obama was when I heard a breast augmentation commercial on the radio followed by “I am Barack Obama and I approve this message” before the launch of his own commercial. That was funny.
I’m not just sick of Obama though, I am sick of all of it. Obama just has the misfortune of being the face I see the most. And if it was another candidate, I’d still be sick of it.
I am sick of bumper stickers with political declarations. I just don’t get the point. Am I going to pull up at a red light, see your political sticker and think to myself “wow, I didn’t know who to vote for but thanks to the Prius in front of me, I now know who to vote for”? Nope. It’s not going to happen. Your bumper sticker will not influence my voting decisions.
I am sick of the political t-shirts. I was at Phillies game last week and it seemed like I couldn’t turn around without seeing some shirt declaring some desire to vote for a candidate, usually with some quirky play on words. Do t-shirts influence how you choose to vote? I hope not at all. And if they do, isn’t that the bigger problem?
I am sick of the signs on suburban front lawns, declaring allegiance to a national candidate. For some reason, I can tolerate the signs for local candidates but around the time the democrat down the street built a shrine to Hilary on his front lawn was around the time I couldn’t tolerate it any more. How often do people really drive around the Philadelphia suburbs looking for inspiration for their voting decisions?
My distaste for political merchandise is as high as my distaste for “awareness” ribbons – a magnetic ribbon on the back of your car will not inspire me to go out and donate to your cause. And when I do donate to a cause, I do not want to be given a reward. My reward is giving of myself to help someone else.
But before I go too far down this path, I need to say that I love all of the conversations that I see on the blogs. I don’t agree with all of it – in fact, I don’t agree with most of it. Reading someone’s well articulate thoughts on the events at hand is exciting and seeing the conversation that follows in the comments section is even better.
Buying merchandise or taking a free bumper sticker just doesn’t do it for me. Having a real conversation? That’s what matters.
Carm said...
1Dorie- I agree. I want to hear the debates and conventions and what the candidates have to say… I want to know that I am voting for someone who I can place some confidence in, though let’s be honest, all that can easily be laid aside once someone is in office, unless they decide they want 2 terms… then they have to try to cater to a majority.
09/16/08 10:59 AM | Comment Link
Deb said...
2Hear hear! I feel similarly about commercials. Do marketing teams really think I’m going to buy an air freshener because some cartoon elephant told me to? Then again, just because I think for myself (and obviously so do you) does not necessarily mean that the majority of Americans – or even the world – want to bother with doing the research and making their own decisions. Maybe there is a big enough portion of Americans who are influenced purely by the number of times they see a particular candidate’s name on a bumper sticker (or on a lawn or on a TV commercial) that they actually will turn around and vote for that candidate in November because that person’s name is the most familiar. Maybe…but I hope not.
09/16/08 11:22 AM | Comment Link
Rebecca said...
3Ah, but what’s the point of conversation if no one can hear you? People should be proud of their opinions and right to free speech and the ability to express themselves. You might not take the opportunity to go up to someone wearing and Obama button and discuss politics, but others do.
People that openly declare their passion for a candidate often have the strongest opinions so if you want real conversation, talk to them
09/16/08 11:24 AM | Comment Link
Dorie said...
4@Rebecca – I’m curious – do you wear political t-shirts and get that sort of response? Or do you go up to individuals wearing shirts to ask questions?
There was something about the drunk guys in Obama shirts that just didn’t appeal to me as potential conversations. Also, in a town that is between 75-85% democrat, I’m slightly afraid to approach a stranger wearing a shirt when I have different opinion. I’m not always sure its the wisest decision for a woman by herself.
09/16/08 11:36 AM | Comment Link
Dorie said...
5@Deb – At some point, I really need to figure out the math between political merchandise spending and election results – there has got to be some connection because it keeps happening.
09/16/08 11:39 AM | Comment Link
Dorie said...
6@Carm – Are you following the blog discussions about McCain/Palin and Obama/Biden at all? Do the conversations in the blogosphere influence how you think about a candidate?
09/16/08 11:40 AM | Comment Link
Sean said...
7Oh, c’mon people! How can you not love the political process and the possible future of the country getting reduced to Johnny Cochran style verbal wordplay?
Slogans up front, political parties in the back…the mullet of American politics.
…I just made a bumper sticker, didn’t I?
09/17/08 2:15 AM | Comment Link
zak said...
8Cafepress.com swears their merchandise sales predicts campaign winners
http://www.cafepress.com/cp/buy/elections08_meter
09/17/08 5:07 AM | Comment Link
Funny Blog » Blog Archive » What’s wrong with politics? bBumper stickers/b. said...
9[...] The Raver wrote an interesting post today onHere’s a quick excerptThat was bfunny/b. I’m not just sick of Obama though, I am sick of all of it. Obama just has the misfortune of being the face I see the most. And if it was another candidate, I’d still be sick of it. I am sick of bbumper stickers/b with b…/b [...]
09/17/08 6:25 AM | Comment Link
Dorie said...
10@Sean – Mullet is right. Still not fashionable though.
09/17/08 8:06 AM | Comment Link
Dorie said...
11@Zak – Thanks for the link. The idea of voting with wallets seems a bit odd though – if I had extra money to spend, it wouldn’t be on merch but I still physically vote in each election.
09/17/08 8:09 AM | Comment Link
A Girl’s Best Friend | The Writer Bee said...
12[...] posts while you’re there – she’s awesome and a gifted writer, not to mention funny. Today I’d like to share a guest post from Deb Miller. Deb lives in the Philadelphia suburbs, [...]
09/17/08 10:06 AM | Comment Link
Funny Blog » Blog Archive » What’s wrong with politics? Bumper bstickers/b. said...
13[...] Dorie wrote an interesting post today onHere’s a quick excerptThat was bfunny/b. I’m not just sick of Obama though, I am sick of all of it. Obama just has the misfortune of being the face I see the most. And if it was another candidate, I’d still be sick of it. I am sick of bumper bstickers/b with b…/b [...]
09/18/08 3:49 AM | Comment Link
spikeyfan said...
14discussion is important, but if you are like me, i need to express my self, loudly and often. i for one love to wear my feelings on a tee, – like to keep my car clean – no bumper stickers : ) –
a political tee, or clever statement tells you a lot about a person, and i find very often helps to start a discussion.
We Rotate Tyrants & Call It Self-Government T-Shirt
10/4/08 10:51 AM | Comment Link