I've been both a Republican and a Democrat, and in that order. I quit the Republican Party back in 1992 when Bill Clinton ran for President, haven't voted for one since . . . in any election. To make a long story short, the Republicans pissed me off when they allowed the right wing fundamentalists to take over their party. I swore then to never vote for anyone with the big R behind their name again, and I haven't. But if Chris Christie runs for President in 2016, and the Democrats come up with another candidate like Obama, I will break that vow, bite down hard, take a deep breath, and vote for Christie. The only thing that will change my mind is if Brian Schweitzer wins the Democratic nomination, in which case I'll probably stay with the dumocrats and vote for him. I might have to think hard about it, though, 'cause at the moment I don't see a lot of difference between the two men. Schweitzer looks like a moderate to right leaning Democrat, and Christie looks like a moderate to left leaning Republican. I like both men.
I'll cut Obama some slack when it comes to his mediocre performance as President because he had one helluva mess to clean up when he took office. I'm not sure anybody could've fixed all the problems left by the Bush bunch when they left town. We were left with too many Republicans still in office, plenty enough to keep screwing things up. Put plainly, right wing Republicans could fuck up a one car funeral procession, much less a highly complex government. If I end up voting for Christie, I'll have to overcome some deep-seated resentments toward his party, but I think he's capable of bringing about some change. The same is true of Brian Schweitzer. He's not a mainstream Democrat, and that's what I like about him. He too could bring about change in the country, and in his own party.
You can bet the liberal leaning Democrats will fight Schweitzer's candidacy, as will the right leaning Republicans who'll fight Christie's run for the Presidency. I'm hoping lots of Americans are like me, sick to death of both sides - the extreme left and the extreme right. Liberals tend to be naive, out of touch with what's practical and achievable. Conservatives are limited by narrow mindedness, sort of a brain freeze when it comes to critical thinking. And if you can't think, you can't run anything. It's hard to lead anything when you're systematically limited by an obstructionist stance, and if there's anything Republicans do well, it's obstruct. It's likewise difficult to lead if you work from a stance of considering too many options. That's another brain freeze thing, I think - not being able to decide what to do, which way to go. Liberals tend to struggle with that.
I loved Harry Truman because he was a practical man - perhaps not the brightest President we ever had, but he didn't get bogged down by either restrictions brought about by not being able to see the problem (Republicans) or by seeing too much of it (Democrats). Bill Clinton had that quality about him, some of that Truman practicality. And I'm seeing some of that in both Christie and Schweitzer, and so far, I like what I see. I'm not optimistic at this point that either man can win the nominations of their parties, but I hold out some hope it might happen. For once in my life, I'd like to vote in a Presidential election where either candidate would be acceptable to me. Maybe that's just a dream.
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