Estimated read time: 2-3 minutes
This archived news story is available only for your personal, non-commercial use. Information in the story may be outdated or superseded by additional information. Reading or replaying the story in its archived form does not constitute a republication of the story.
That was the line from Margo Channing played by Bette Davis in the classic 1950s film “All About Eve.” (It was before my time so no old guy jokes please, I just happen to like classic films.) And that may perfectly describe the continuing presidential campaign. We just made it through the first two big events, the Iowa caucuses and the New Hampshire primaries and I’ve got a feeling we aint seen nothin’ yet. I’m a political junky. Many of my friends believe that makes me sick and twisted and they may be right. I love watching the game as it’s played, but even I get fed up with all the bull sometimes. There’s some chance that we may know the nominees from both parties after the super-primary day on February 5th with delegates up for grabs from California to Florida to Utah. Okay, I doubt we’ll play heavily on the national scene but hey, we get to vote that day too. Anyway, that may be the good news. The bad news may be that we don’t know and the slug-fest continues or we do know and the slug-fest shifts to the Republican candidate against the Democratic candidate. The unfortunate point is we’ll be in for another nine months of this. But I appeal here for patience. The election of a new president is just too important.
I’m encouraged that a lot of younger people got involved in Iowa and New Hampshire. Whether that’s because of the appeal of new political faces like Barak Obama or Ron Paul, it’s a very good sign. I’ve seen too many young people who are apathetic and don’t believe they have a stake in what they believe to be the nonsense of the political process. But ask the soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan if they have a stake. Ask the family losing their home because of the subprime debacle if they have a stake. Ask the single mother with no health insurance if they have a stake. Or ask the farmer who can’t find migrant labor or the officer trying to keep our borders secure if they have a stake. No matter what your political persuasion, we all have a stake in the person who will be the next president, governor, congressman or mayor. So be patient. Pretend, perhaps, that you’re in school and it’s nine months until summer vacation. Do a little homework and then vote for the candidates that best represent your views. Is this a great country or what!
