First Pitch

With all the hype about the upcoming election, sometimes the news about the man that is going to be replaced goes under the radar for me. It’s been a while since I’ve read anything about Bush, or even seen anything about him on television. Maybe I’m not paying close enough attention, but I think people are getting to the point where they are more interested in who is next than what Bush has to say anymore.

While I was settling in to watch opening day of the Major League Baseball season, I was lucky enough to catch the ceremonial first pitch being thrown out but none other than the president.

Although it was a pretty decent pitch, I found it amazing how loudly George W. Bush was booed while tossing it. Compared to the clip below, which was from the World Series in 2001, just a month and a half after the September 11 attacks, you can see the how the nation’s thoughts on the president have changed.

And even with all the boos, Bush still had that damn smirk on his face, the “Yeah, I run this country, what are you gonna do about it” smirk. I hate it.

Only nine more months…

“I’m voting for Obama.”

Wait… What?!

My whole life, all the political talk I’ve heard from my dad has been about how great the Republicans are. How their tax policies support our family, how their education, immigration and employment policies are better for our demographic. I’ve never known my dad to vote anything but Republican, no matter the candidate.

My whole life, all the political talk I’ve heard from my mom has been about how great the Democrats are. How their tax policies support our family, how their education, immigration and employment policies are better for out demographic. I’ve never known my mom to vote anything but Democrat, no matter the candidate.

One of my parents has been lying to me.

My parents don’t discuss politics with each other, and on the rare occasion that it gets brought up, I just tune it out, because they are on such opposite ends of the political spectrum that I feel like I’m about to watch the battle scene from Braveheart. Both sides lined up, staring each other down with their massive armies (of words in this case) behind them, just waiting for that one little misstep from the other side.

When I get political input from either of them, it’s always in secret, without the other one knowing. It’s nice to get input from both of them, but it’s very hard to get unbiased information. My mom has always been a little better at realizing that no matter what she tells me, in the end I will make my own decision, and she will actually sit there and discuss politics with me. My dad more or less preaches Republicanism to me.

The surprise of my life came last week while my dad was visiting Phoenix for the Super Bowl. I met up with him for dinner after I attended the Barack Obama rally on Jan. 30. I was ready to hear a rant about how neither Obama nor Clinton are the ones I need to be looking into. How I should look at McCain and Romney and various other Republicans. I was prepared, but it never happened.

“It’s time for a change,” he said. “I do not like Obama’s tax policy; it will hurt our family. But other than that, we need him. He reminds me of JFK, a president who was younger, hipper, and came into power during turmoil, and did a great job of calming the nation. Bush has ruined our economy, has killed our global policies, and the war… I am not even going to start with the war. Even your grandmother was fed up with Bush and was thinking about voting Democrat. The Republicans have lost their credibility.”

I’ve never met someone more conservative Republican than my grandmother. I think it’s possible that in the 2000 election, she supported Republicans more than George W. Bush himself did. If she was fed up with the Republicans, I can’t imagine a single person who is not.

In the car ride home, my dad told me he was going to vote for Obama.

I dropped him off at his hotel, he started to walk away from the car, then ran back frantically before I pulled away to make sure I heard the last thing he said.

“DO NOT tell your mother!”