“Oh, there is something I ought to tell you… I’m not left-handed either.”
The Princess Bride
It would seem that after running candidates like Walter Mondale, Michael Dukakis, Al Gore, and John Kerry, that the Democratic Party discovered with Barack Obama that the safe, boring, traditional candidate is not always the best bet. Indeed, with the barely challenged coronation of Hillary Clinton, one wonders if the party will ever nominate a presidential candidate without some non-traditional gimmick again. The Democratic presidential nomination will likely be advertised as “White men need not apply”, unless they are gay or transexual.
One can hardly blame them, if recent elections have proven anything, it’s that the electorate disdains being bored with bland traditional candidates, like John McCain or Mitt Romney. The presidential election, rather than being the selection of the most competent individual to lead the national economy and influence the rest of the world, has instead become almost an honorary position doled out to less than qualified individuals on the basis of what they are rather than who they are. The presidential elections have turned into a social statement whereby voting for a black man, any black man, makes you enlightened and voting against him makes you a racist. Likewise, in the coming election, Hillary will be billed as the the candidate to vote for BECAUSE she is a woman, and it’s high time we came away from our sexism and elected a woman, any woman. Anyone who questions her qualifications will be vilified as a misogynist, a foot soldier in the war against women, or – gasp – old fashioned.
Republicans on the other hand have had their own gimmick for choosing presidential candidates; erring on the “safe” side by selecting moderate, dull, tired old candidates least likely to offend the swing voters; the Holy Grail of presidential politics. This has turned out not to be a particularly effective gimmick. It seems that even swing voters like a little pizzazz in their candidates. It would seem that the GOP has taken it up a notch in the selection of their candidates with the strong offerings for 2016. Whether this is a conscious decision, or just that all the other old white establishment guys have passed on while waiting their turn (apologies to Lindsay Graham, “I’m not dead yet!”), is difficult to tell, but even the dullest of the candidates in this round would probably have been preferred to Romney in the last cycle.
In a scene from The Princess Bride, Inigo Montoya is losing in a sword battle with the hero, The Man in Black. He smiles as he declares, “I am not left-handed!”, switches his sword to his right hand, and quickly gains the advantage. This is what the Democrats did in switching from lackluster candidates to Mr. Excitement, Barack Obama. Granted, in this case they switched the sword from their left hand to their further left hand, but you get the idea. In the movie, after Montoya has gained the advantage, the Man in Black makes his own declaration as quoted above, “…I am not left-handed either!” He switches his own sword to his right hand and wins the battle. May I suggest to the GOP that it is high time to switch the sword to your right hand?
IMHO: It is disheartening at times to see and hear some of the folks whose knowledge of issues is practically non-existent, who are more likely to vote for a candidate on the basis of whether he can dance with Ellen Degeneres than whether he can keep the economy sound or keep us respected on the world stage. It is indeed dismaying to realize that their votes count the same as yours or mine, and seemingly our schools churn out more of them all the time. Understand though, that almost none of these “low information voters” have the ability to be persuasive to other voters. Hopefully, our individual vote is not the end of our influence for bringing truth to those we know, and perhaps beyond. It helps to have an alternative more enticing than some of the offerings of the past; and almost all of the existing candidates meet that bill. Each candidate has their strengths, and their weaknesses; and the greatest danger for the GOP is that the modern day epidemic of being easily offended will cause the base to refuse to vote for any but their first choice. We have been fighting this battle with our left hand, and we are not left-handed. The biggest mistake the Republicans could make would be to nominate another dull establishment RINO candidate. At the same time, some are never satisfied with the pace of change, preferring defeat to partial victory. Let us hope that in transferring our weapons to our right hand we do not shoot ourselves in the foot.
