Tuesday, February 5, 2008

Vote or die

So I'm trying to figure out whom to vote for today. Obviously, instead of focusing on the presidential primary ticket, for which we're essentially voting on who to vote for again in November, I should be learning about my local candidates. The presidential hopefuls get all the press, even the local press, but it's the county commissioners and the like that actually effect our lives the most on a daily basis. They're the ones that have the most impact on things like schools and zoning laws and local taxes. Really, the president is just someone whose mug you're going to have to put up with seeing on TV for the next four to eight years. That relatively anonymous county commissioner you don't pay any attention to could have a say in your property taxes and how much the teachers in your district get paid.

But I can't. I'm too enamored with Barack and Hillary. It's primary day, so I figured today would be a good time to actually learn something about all the candidates, but I just can't get past those big-ticket items. Maybe later, when I'm bored, I'll do a little research into all those people vying for county seats. Right now, I'm too busy comparing the web sites of (in my mind) the presidential front-runners.

Obama in a landside. Hillary's site is nice enough and easy to navigate, but Obama has some seriously slick design people working for him. There's only one problem with it: the color scheme and logo constantly remind me of Pepsi. Then again, he is selling himself as the choice of a new generation, so maybe it's intentional. Back before I cut out sodas entirely, I had decided that, despite my Atlanta-area upbringing, Diet Pepsi does in fact taste better than Diet Coke, so it's not a problem for me.

Another plus is that Obama's Issues page, where the candidate puts forth his various positions, only features one photo of the man himself. Hillary's shows her in different situations for each issue, such as standing in front of a John Deere tractor where she's ostensibly "Creating Opportunity for Rural America." That's fine and all, but there are 14 different photos of the woman on just this one page. I don't want to focus on appearances, so don't make me. Less is more in this case.

Aside from the web sites, which are both perfectly serviceable, it seems the most glaring difference between the two is universal healthcare, and I'm not sure which side of that I fall on yet.

How come Hillary hasn't yet pointed out to the hard-line Republican war mongers that if they really want to stick it to the jihadists they'll elect a woman president? Maybe that's her trump card. It could get her some swing votes, you never know.

12 comments:

Aaron said...

Wait, I thought you were voting for me?

Anonymous said...

I am very much on the fence over these two, as I am not sure where I stand on universal health care either. I guess I have about one more hour to decide.

Courtney said...

Don't sweat the local races. Most of them are uncontested.

Allie said...

Yeah, I'm feeling the same way. I just don't know who to vote for. Were this a few weeks ago, I would have voted for Edwards and felt okay about it. I feel like no matter who I vote for now, when I walk out of the voting booth I'm going to be struck with buyers remorse.

I have opinions about both, but I don't know that they are based on solid fact. Today is a day for research.

Anonymous said...

I just looked at our sample ballot. It's alphabetical. Hillary is first on the list.
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
Obama is down here.
The only one under him is Kucinich.

I'm thinking that this being New York and the fact that we have a lot of tall people, Obama's not going to get as many votes as he otherwise would. He's getting mine, though.

Meaghan said...

Good design IS really important, and yeah, Hil in front of a John Deere doesn't really tell me anything. Anyone who owns one and sees that photo is probably thinking, "yeah, I'd like to see her get on it!"

I just have to comment that no one on here seems to give a rip about the Republicans, which just makes me laugh.

Mickey said...

aaron- I didn't say I wasn't. There's always the write-in...

em- It probably doesn't matter.

courtney- Yeah, I noticed that on the sample ballot. So why do we vote then?

allie- I was kinda partial to Edwards myself.

noelle- Your comment would have been a worthy post in itself. Nice visual.

meaghan- Yeah, it's a shame we don't have any more dissent around here, aside from people's feelings about Bono.

Anonymous said...

blah blah blah

hightower

Jacob said...

While, I do think Hilary gets a lot of unfair criticism (stick a penis on her and give her a haircut, and people would just think she's a normal man because ambition and political maneuvering are ok for men but unbecoming for ladies), I still don't trust her because I think she's too much the politician, just like I think Romney is too much the spoiled rich kid grown up. Although while I want to slap Romney every time I see his privileged smirk, I just don't want to vote for Hilary. Or have sex with her, but that's irrelevant, I guess.

And you misspelled Sid's site on your blogroll. She's not American so she doesn't share our slightly more efficient spelling style. There's an "o" in diarrhoea. I'm assuming that's taken from the British spelling of the word.

Liz Dwyer said...

The local ballot initiatives and contests are a real doozy out here in California. You need two law degrees to figure out what they're about.

Too funny about Obama's site resembling Pepsi. I've never been to Hillary's.

Sid said...

LOL! Loved your you switched your focus from presidential candidates to diet pepsi.

Stefanie said...

I think you're on to something. Even presidential races are sponsored by soft drink companies now. Why am I not surprised?