Opinions That Don't Matter Volume 1: The 2008 Presidential Race

And now for the first edition of a little piece we call Opinions That Don't Matter, because they don't. Why not start off strong with a very important subject, the 2008 presidential campaign?

Let me start out by saying that I'm not registered to vote, nor do I have a particular political party affiliation; nor am I heavy into politics, which is why this is just a mere perspective article on an everyman's view of the election. If I'd describe myself, I'd merely say that I have no party, though I lean slightly to the left. Most of my family is randomly Independents and Republicans though, despite me living in Massachusetts. Anyway, if you follow any type of news, you'd know that this presidential election is historic for a number of reasons, the primary being it's the first time that not only a woman, but an African American man are strong candidates for the presidency.

First, let's start with ol' Hil herself. I generally thought, at first and perhaps ignorantly, that Hillary Clinton's presidential bid would quickly fall flat because she's a woman. However, here we are in early February of 2008, and she's the Democratic frontrunner, alongside Barack Obama. It'd be extremely shortchanging her to claim that a lot of her popularity comes from her husband, Slick Willy, but there's just something about her that doesn't seem 'right' to me. She tries to say the right things and carry herself well, but there's something that just doesn't feel genuine when she speaks. I know what you're thinking, "no shit, she's a politician," but it's just something about her demeanor. She's criticized frequently, but don't dissuade the fact that she's (obviously) intelligent and actually knows how the White House is run, having been there for 8 years. The argument can be made that her experience as First Lady is irrelevant, and it'd be a very good argument. Hillary doesn't strike me as exceedingly liberal, for one reason or another, and so she feels like a medium between McCain and Obama. Critics have John Kerry'd her on some topics, saying she 'flip flops' depending on her audience, though it's not as bad a criticism as Mitt Romney received. Regardless, the race for the democratic nomination will be a tight one, indeed.

That leads me to Barack Obama, the only opponent for Clinton in the Democratic party (have you ever even heard of Mike Gravel? I didn't think so.) Young and charismatic, Obama's written off by detractor's for not having enough 'experience,' and that's his main flaw. In Politician Years™ (kind of like dog years), he's a young man, so that may put off older voters who value experience. His policies lean very much towards liberal America, which I think is a big plus going his way. The war overseas right now is sort of like a less dramatic Vietnam, in a sense that there's heavy protesting here in America for the withdrawal of US forces from middle eastern countries. His youth and liberal-ness appeal towards the younger generation of voters, whom I generally always picture as stereotypically hippie-like college students with Che Guevera t-shirts and extreme liberal views. Joking aside, it's not like that's Obama's only appeal. I think that any presidential hopeful that has managed to make it this far would make a good 'leader' for the country, or else they wouldn't still be in the running. Obama's ethnicity isn't even that big of a deal, as we're in a time period where one's race or skin color thankfully makes no difference in the long run, though I still, sadly, think that Hillary will attract women voters and Barack will attract black voters just because they represent them. I don't think that's 'necessarily' a bad thing, but it's likely going to be the less-informed or serious voters that go utilize such a method.

From the youngest candidate to the oldest, there's John McCain of the Republican party. The frontrunner for said party, McCain may be the most well respected of the candidates, and it's certainly not without reason. Many say his age - 71 - is a bit of a detriment, but I honestly don't think it is. McCain may be the hardest 'right wing' candidate in this thing, as his views on war, abortion, and stem cell research have shown. I hate to be going with such general classifications, but I think this old school Republican stodginess dissuades young America, who are looking for a change from a Republican cabinet and a 'changing of the guard', so to speak, from the now-legendary anti-Bush movement. But McCain isn't George W. Bush; that being said, I give him a very strong chance in this election.

Then there's Mike Huckabee. If you asked me a week ago what I thought about Huckabee, I'd say that in a few week's time, he'd probably be out of the race and the Republican party would be a battle between McCain and Mitt Romney. Now that Romney's gone, though, Huckabee's seemingly found new life and going relatively strong, though McCain still has the edge. Huckabee's a funny guy, really. How many other presidential candidates would do ads with and appear with the support of the internet meme known as Chuck Norris? Or appear on Late Night with Conan O'Brien in a comedy skit? While it shows that he has a sense of humor and probably will make some younger voters say "Hey, this guy's cool," the majority of voters aren't young. They're bitter old people who have no sense of humor, and that'll make them think Huckabee's not serious and not worthy of their vote, regardless of his policies.

Finally, the internet darling, Ron Paul. When Ron Paul talks about something, he feels genuine and makes sense to me, though you know as well as I do he has no chance in hell of winning this thing. He may be popular amongst the internet, but that's pretty much as far as his influence reaches. The only reason I think he's staying in this election is that it's costing him nothing, as he raises more campaign money than any other candidate, and it gives him a platform to try and get his views and message across. He knows he's not going to win, but I don't think that dissuades him.

I'm not going to touch of any of the obscure parties or nominees, because it's not like they have much of a chance anyway. Instead, I'll just offer my brief opinions on a number of topics that have become important topics of debate in this election. First, same sex marriage. I personally don't support, but I don't 'un-support' it. If a gay man wants to marry a gay man, who cares? Let him and shut up, I couldn't care less if they did or not. The main debate around this topic comes from religious beliefs, but that's a rant for another time. My main view, though, is why is this so important in choosing the leader of our country? Why is it such a hot topic of debate in that it could potentially influence who someone votes for? It's not that serious of a matter, but for some reason people have made it out to be.

The war in Iraq; obviously one of the, if not the absolute, important issues. Not to offend, but when I think 'Republican,' I think of a strict old plantation owner named Peyton who talks like Foghorn Leghorn. Hey, that's just what's ingrained in my head. That's the type of people I visualize as supporting the war; that and random Southerners, for some reason. There's a lot of points for staying in the middle east, and a lot of points against it. Personally, I think that whomever is elected president will keep armed forces over there, at least for the time being, no matter what they say their policy on it will be. I do think that there will be a withdrawal within the next year or two, but I don't see someone like Obama being elected and miraculously putting an end to that conflict.

My prediction? There are still many debates to come, anything can happen. Still, I think Barack Obama narrowly edges out Hillary Clinton for the Democratic nomination, selects Clinton or John Edwards as his running mate, and the race is between he and John McCain, with his vice president Mitt Romney. Obama then wins the election, if only because most of America doesn't want another term of the Republican party in office. Of course this has a strong chance of being shit wrong.