and they're counting still

The idealist in me is glad that the Democratic Party's presidential selection process hasn't followed the usual course of beginning with the Iowa caucuses and ending on Super Tuesday, and has instead upgraded the importance of late-voting states from afterthoughts to vital contests.

The realist in me, however, really, truly wishes that this hollow circus of oneupsmanship would just fucking end already. My support is behind Obama, though I'm not of the folks who thinks the man can walk on water and my support of his candidacy has nothing to do with my desire to see this contest laid to rest as soon as possible. If the situation between the two candidates at this stage was reversed, I'd still feel the same way. For me this upcoming election has never been about whether of not I believe pie in the sky promises about NAFTA or universal health care; it's a referendum on Bush's presidency, his legacy, and those who aided and abetted him in defiling this country's supposed core principles.

That's a major reason behind my support for Obama, for the record. Clinton's vote in favor of authorizing the Iraq War makes me severely doubt her powers of judgement -- bad enough if it was an honest "mistake," completely unforgivable if it was a calculated and cynical act of politicking. The presence of former DNC head Terry McAuliffe, the Robert Towne-sean figure who takes credit for Bill Clinton's two terms as president (the real credit going to Ross Perot, actually) while neglecting to mention the party's many humilations under his leadership, as Hillary's campaign chair doesn't thrill me either. I'm sure he and Hillary have already worked out a swing state card-counting scheme for the general election where victory hinges on two precincts in Ohio and one in Florida...and we all know how well that plan has worked in the last two elections. Most importantly, I don't think the Oval Office is a baton to be passed back and forth between two political dynasties of dubious qualifications, especially when the candidate in question projects an aura of utterly unjustified entitlement.

As the November election is such an important referendum, the Democrats need to get their shit together and bring their A-game instead of accentuating internal rifts and evoking the spectre of unaccountable party hacks (popularly known as "superdelegates") usurping the will of the majority at the Denver convention this summer. Meanwhile, Republican Presidential nominee John McCain and the RNC spin-meisters have been given an eight-month window of opportunity to mend internal fences and recast his (many) undesirable qualities into an electorate-acceptable package.

I'm also tired of the mainstream media's endless extemporizing on the Democratic nomination process, full of soundbites and fuzzy logic signifying nothing. "What --- needs to do," "what --- should have done," "it's all over for ---," "---'s rise from the ashes" It's a staggering expenditure of keystrokes and hot air intended to take a pretty easily understood situation, a virtual stalemate with one candidate doing slightly better and no prospects for a quick resolution, and gild it with all manner of spin and ill-considered armchair theorizations. There's also the repeated nonsensical extrapolations of the Democratic Party's internal voting demographics during the primaries with Hillary's or Obama's prospects in a general election. As I said before, I'll vote for whichever Democratic candidate is picked, regardless, and so will most other Democrats, if experience is to be trusted.

We're not the people who need to be convinced to vote for the eventual nominee, and the folks that do need convincing ought to be reached out to sooner rather than later, before the opposition frames the debate in its own terms, and not under the pall of an ugly nomination process predicated on loopholes and machine politics.

The Damned - W (from Grave Disorder, 2001) - The Wikipedia entry on Grave Disorder cites a pronounced Britpop influence in this song. Nevermind the fact that the album is a direct follow-up to the band's sound on 1982's Strawberries LP. Or that Vanian and Sensible have long shown an appreciation for 60's garage rock and pop (including releasing an entire album of period covers under the guise of Naz Nomad and The Nightmares). Or that the band's first single, "New Rose," opened with a reference to the Shangri-Las' "Leader of the Pack" and featured a punked up cover of the Fab Four's "Help" on the b-side.

Nah, it has to be all about imitating Oasis and Blur.

The Go-Go's - How Much More (from Beauty and the Beat, 1981) - Maura used to listen to this album for hours in her pre-teen years. I've been listening to it on "repeat" fairly often in recent weeks. It's breezy pop perfection that never goes out of style.