McBama

And I'm so not lovin' it.

It's been quite apparent over the last few months that we have another presidential election upon us.  How can I tell?  Every other house on the block is plastered with posters, SNL's ratings have shot up (securing Tina Fey a job for at least the next month), and the pro/con commercials for the candidates have surpassed the number of car, food, and Viagra commercials combined.

To be honest, politics isn't my thing.  For one, I don't know enough.  I am not sufficiently educated in the political arena to have a structured argument/discussion with anyone that wants to talk about the issues.  I just don't get hyped up about it like others do.  This isn't because I don't care.  It's just not that interesting to me.  It's like asking my husband what he thinks of College Football.  Could he tell you what College Football is?  Probably.  Does he care to know why there is no longer an incidental face mask penalty?  No.  He still knows that he hates the game and the details are just details.  I find that so many political debates zero in on one or two key issues and I am just utterly unprepared to discuss any of them at depth.

And the second reason I steer away from debate is that I have never witnessed someone convert someone else to their "side."  Most arguments are littered with disrespectful comments toward one another and do nothing but leave both parties frustrated and angry.  One of the most annoying things in the world is to be told that you're "wrong" because someone thinks differently from you.

Now before you go all "she's a terrorist" on me, I do vote, and I do care very much about who will be our next president.  But it's none of your business.  That's one of my favorite things about this entire election process.  I can vote for whoever I want for whatever reasons I want and there is absolutely nothing YOU can do about it.  Why?  Because it's my vote, and only my vote.  You have one too.  I'm not trying to take yours, don't try to take mine.  And, hey, at least I don't vote based on party lines.  That should make you happy, right?

Why is she blogging about politics you ask?  Good question.  It must be because someone pissed me off.  Because god knows I have other things to do.  (Yaaaaayyyy!!!!  Story time!!!)

I decided to skip school for the day, get my haircut, do a little shopping, and break up the routine with a quiet lunch at Panera.  OK, it's Panera on a Tuesday at 12:30 - so it wasn't quiet, but I'm good at drowning out the background.  Plus I had a great book on Schizophrenia I was stoked about reading.

I was just breaking into my french onion soup and flipping through the first couple pages when I became aware of the Mom and baby at the table next to mine.  We were close to the door, and several people bent down to coo at the little one on their way out, while telling Mom just how beautiful and sweet he was.  I mean, they were right - he was a damn cute little 1 year old.  I became aware of Mom glancing in my direction in between bites of my sandwich.  I turned, smiled at her, and went back to reading.

"Your soup looks good - is that the french onion?"

"Yeah, I get it almost every time.  Your little boy is very cute, and so good."

"Thanks!"

Great, nice little chat, acknowledged the cute baby, moving back to my book.

"I don't know about this upcoming election you know.  I mean, do you realize how bad ______ is going to be for this country if he's elected"

"Pardon?"

"Well you know, with the whole economic and healthcare crisis, this country NEEDS _______ to be president, not the other guy who voted 7639 times against blah blah blah..........."

Oooooooo dear god.  OK, maybe she just needed some grownup talk.  I mean, the cooing and baby talk is fun and all, for about 5 minutes.  She just needed an adult conversation.  So I played along, smiled and nodded my head, furrowed my eyebrows when she was concerned, and agreed just how important this election is going to be.  But what's really difficult for me to do is get OUT of these kinds of conversations.  Like I said before, I don't know enough about the issues to comment on them, much less try to segue into another topic... like say the kickass roast beef sandwich I was eating.  In other words, I was stuck.

10 - 15 minutes later, she finished her lunch and the baby was antsy enough for her to realize that he needed his afternoon nap.  We closed our discussion, shook hands, smiled, and I promised to watch the second presidential debate tonight.  I guess it became apparent just how little I knew about the economy - which probably drove her up the wall.  Not at any point did I reveal who I may be voting for though.  She tried for it, lots of times, but like I said before, none of her business.

The lesson here?  Don't interrupt my lunch, especially with political talk.  I get pissed, blog about it, and waste valuable study time.