Party Political

Maybe. Talk about backfire!

In the past, I've spoken with Obama supporters in person. They came a-knocking. And I've spoken on the phone. They came a-calling. A few days ago, one of them called again.

At 9:00 at night.

The young woman sounded like she was in college. She said, "You're an Obama supporter, is that correct?"

I said no, I'm not sure who I'm supporting.

She said, "Oh, well we must have you on the wrong list. What's your #1 issue?"

I said I didn't have one. No one issue matters most to me. There's a lot of them that are important.

She said, "Ok, well do you plan on voting in the Democrat Primary?"

I said I was undecided as to whether to vote Democrat or Republican.

She said, "All right, well one of the things I like most about Obama is that he's bipartisan, a uniter, and he can bring lots of different groups of people together."

That's the exact thing the previous caller had said, word for word. I'm paraphrasing what she said, but hearing it on the phone, it was apparent that the callers are instructed to read from a script. And here I thought the first conversation (that occurred a week ago during the day, and not at 9:00 at night) was legit. Guess not. How foolish of me...

Then she said, "Be sure to check out our website and let us know your questions."

And we finished up the call.

I had already been focused more on other candidates. After seeing Obama in the Democratic Debate, I decided he wasn't a powerful enough communicator to provide good representation on behalf of the U.S. in the eyes of foreign nations. But maybe I'm wrong. Maybe what we really need is good ideas, and he seems to have plenty.

But now I've got something new to consider, and it hurts his campaign in my eyes.

It's the solicitations I've been getting. This last phone call really did Obama a disservice, because it happened late at night, and it was redundant. Absurdly redundant. I feel it was a waste of time, for all parties involved.

The Obama campaign is like a monster with a stick. You're trying to sleep, and every so often it creeps out from the shadows and pokes you. "Hey, don't forget me."

If Obama can't coordinate the lowest levels of volunteers on his campaign to do things right (and not be annoying and pointless), then how can we expect him to coordinate the lowest levels of government not to make our lives a living Hell?

People say, "It's not his fault. He's high up in the food chain, too high to make a difference."

Too high to make a difference? All he needs to do is delegate to good people, who delegate to more good people, right on down the line, until the bottom rung realizes that it is inappropriate to call at night, and it is inappropriate to pretend to be genuine and sincere when really you're just reading from a script.

Maybe the other candidates have this going on too, but they haven't made it apparent for me, so I say kudos to them.

Here's another theory. They say the more money you have, the more you'll fight to get elected. Well, what if some candidates respect us citizens enough to leave us alone and let us think for ourselves? I think (half-serious) that other candidates believe in me, and trust me to make the right decision. Obama just won't leave me alone, which means he doesn't trust me, and doesn't respect me. Why would I vote for someone like that?

It's like the unpopular kid wants to break into the cool clique so badly that he just keeps pestering everyone to let him join. "I can be cool, see? Look at me!" And it backfires. "Get lost, crazy."

Another theory I had was that I was too positive in previous encounters with Obama supporters, and they marked me down on their neat and tidy lists as being myself a supporter. I was just being polite. You've taught me a good lesson, Obama campaign. It pays to be rude.

Or how about this. Maybe they've got this plan to "go viral," and they hamper and pester whoever they think is trendiest. I don't know why they would think I'm trendy, but if that's the case, I'm honored, flattered, and disgusted. As William Shatner says, "Leave me the Hell alone!" I think political telemarketing should be made illegal.

Here's yet another theory. Maybe they think any press is good press. Here, see, their efforts to annoy (perhaps that was their intention after all) have caused me to write this post all about Obama! That's free publicity! Gee, I guess now that you've read this, you'll keep thinking about Obama until you forget the negatives and decide to vote for him. It's genius! No wonder he won Iowa. The mastermind... (Actually he does seem like a decent guy, I just hate the pestering).

Ok, all that aside, here's the oddity that I've been wondering about from the start. Is it cosmic irony?:

Obama B.
Osama B.

Barack Obama
Bin Laden Osama

Osama Bin Laden
Obama Barack

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