More than the fact that I'm glad Huckabee won--I support him more than any of the other Republican candidates--I'm happy that Romney did so poorly. The man radiates insincerity. To the extent this functions as a fork in the eye of the Republican establishment, so much the better; though the parallels between Huckabee and William Jennings Bryan are too many for my comfort.
I have basically no opinion on the Democratic side of things. It's nice that Obama did well as it keeps Becky employed long enough to swing through Durham after South Carolina's primary, and I am on board with his 'Nuke Pakistan' policy. I would vote for Clinton above several of the Republicans (not just Romney), but I'm hardly the Democratic Party's target voter. Edwards used to be my preferred candidate (as little as four years ago!) but now the idea of a man who's won a single election in his life is not especially appealing.
But despite my various ideological beliefs, held with a greater or lesser degree of tenacity, depending, my real political affiliation is 'cynic.' I like my politics messy, and incapable of ever producing real change (the slide from cynicism to conservatism is not always so difficult). When I read this post from Althouse, I found I could not but agree:
Is everyone high on hope this morning?
Maybe the losers could have an antidote to hope theme. America, settle down. Don't get carried away with charisma. Running the country is not a rock concert.
Everyone so hopeful, so looking forward to change... it's unnatural. More seriously, there's something that feels vaguely wrong about basing one's political appeals on something other than substance and policy... perhaps well captured by the old Goldwater/LBJ exchange: "in your heart, you know he's right/ in your guts, you know he's nuts." Politics fueled by emotion... nothing good can come of this.
Sadly Alex Massie has yet to weigh in, so my inner cynic will have to wait a little longer.
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