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http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080222/ap_on_el_pr/democrats_debate_27

You’d think that a (pre-)Presidential contest between a strong woman and a charismatic black man would excite and enthuse me, but I’m heartily sick of both candidates already, and there’s another 9 months of this left to go. Hillary, plainly, is unelectable – she’s simply pushed too many buttons in the past, and wouldn’t be able to garner enough of the popular vote to beat John McCain. Obama, for his part, has a good chance, but boy, do I wish he was offering something other than image and generalities. Some people hear his message as “hope” or “change”, I hear “fuzziness” and “feel-good”. He seems to be reaching for the lowest common denominator, message-wise, and playing up the likeability angle. The media, of course, is lapping it up. This little tidbit incensed me:

Both candidates were plainly popular with the debate audience. During one break someone in the crowd shouted “Si, se puede,” Spanish for Obama’s trademark phrase, “Yes we can.”

Yes, it’s a literal translation, but that phrase – certainly the Spanish version – didn’t originate with Obama: It’s Cesar Chavez‘s motto. And to compare and contrast the toil Chavez undertook and the results that he earned with Obama’s substance-less sound bites rankles me all the more.

I suppose, though, I should be contented with my lot: The contest seems to be coming down to Obama and John McCain, two decent individuals. This promises to be the least regressive choice (can’t quite call it progressive) in recent American electoral history. After 8 years of Bush-based dark ages, we could do with a little enlightenment.

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