An Inconvenient Offer?

“Why in the world would he want to go back into politics, go back to Washington? He’s won an Oscar, a Pulitzer, he’s a rock star, he’s got it good right now. I don’t know why anyone would want to be thrown back into that scene.”

That is not an exact quote, but it’s close to what my professor Nancie Dodge said when describing her thoughts on Obama’s announcement that if elected, he would consider assigning former Vice President Al Gore to a high level Cabinet position as a “Global warming guru.”

I can’t seem to decide what I would do if I were Al Gore. On one hand, I agree with my professor that Washington is a brutal place to be, and that someone who seems to already have it all with his awards and work in his post-Washington days might not even want to go back to Washington.

On the other hand, if Gore decided to return to Washington on Obama’s offer, he would not be the vice president this time, and his duties wouldn’t include anything except being the “Global warming guru,” as Obama put it. When you’re trying to get funding and spread the word on such an important issue, there are few places better than a high-ranking position in the most powerful and influential government in the world.

However, there is some question out there that this might not even be a decision Gore would have to flirt with.

Jessica Fargen at the Boston Herald wrote today that some strategists, including Republican strategist Holly Robichaud, believe that the offer is just a strategic political move, and not actually a sincere offer. She believed that by making this announcement, Obama was creating distance between himself and Clinton in the close Democratic race.

Robichaud went on to state that she believes it helps out the Republicans. “It’s kind of a funny thing. We don’t like Al Gore. Once again it solidifies Obama’s image as the liberals liberal.” She believes that this move widens the gap between Obama and some of the more conservative Democrats.

Sincere or not, I think Gore is going to have a tough time deciding which road he is going to take.

Battle of the Bands

Obama’s supporters put out a good song.

Clinton’s supporters put out an awful horrible hilariously bad interesting song. There are no words to describe this.

As bad as it is, I did find myself humming the tune about 30 minutes after I listened to it. I’m ashamed.

There are also songs for Republican candidates McCain and Huckabee, but they aren’t nearly as professional, and don’t warrant being included with the Clinton and Obama masterpieces.

“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!”