About a year ago, I was sitting at a bar talking to some strangers about this year’s presidential election. That’s right, talking politics at the bar. I said it, wanna fight about it? We talked about who we thought would win both races, and we were mostly right: We thought McCain would carry the GOP nod while the race between Obama & Clinton would be pretty tight. Of course, we assumed Clinton, seen by us as a symbol of old-school politics, would win. Whoever won, I had a nagging feeling the Democrats were setting themselves up for some disappointment. I couldn’t help thinking that a noticeable portion of this country would only see a black guy or a woman and ignore what they had to say.

Call it cynicism, sexism, racism, ism, ism, ism… All I’m saying is there might not be enough people to affect an election outcome, but I certainly think there are enough to make a dent. Add to that people for whom voting is some knee-jerk reaction rather than a conscious decision: “Vote for the (older/wealthier) White Guy”, “Vote for the (Democrat/Republican)” I know there are people like this out there. Hell, I know people like this! Why then does it always get to me when I see stuff like this?