Oh it's Iowa again

It seems another election year is upon us.  If you are politically active or if you just regard politics as a spectator sport, this will be like having year-long NFL playoffs. 

That is if you can detach yourself enough to be entertained by the competition without realizing that one of these guys is going to be our next president.  Yes, I'm including Obama in that crowd.
I am just completely unimpressed by this year's crop of would-be political leaders.  It's all the same to me, like one big flesh-toned blur of bodies and voices wrapped in American flags and in a few cases waving crosses, crying out about how awful Obama is and how they never want to pay taxes again...or something like that.  Yes they're pretty adept at bashing the current president.  Oh if only they were so handy at offering their own solutions to the situations that Obama has supposedly wrecked.  In the interest of fairness, he hasn't done the greatest job, IMHO, but I'm not hearing any of the others say what they would do differently.  Except for perhaps Mitt Romney who would no doubt spend his White House years beaming his Ken doll grin and saying "it'd be much worse if Obama were here."  Then maybe he'd "create jobs" by laying off thousands of people as he once did. 

Yeah, we've got about another ten months of sniping back and forth, of political attack ads, and the average American asking themselves, "which one of these schmucks is going to lie to me the least?"  Oh sure, you'll have your zealots at either end of the spectrum.  You'll have Tea Party types who want the most conservative white man in the room and you'll have bongo drumming, pot-smoking types who will support Obama no matter what comes out of the Oval Office.  But most of us will be making our selections based on what's offered us from the two major parties...two parties that both lie about and smear the other.  Then there's religion.  Oh yes, don't forget about religion.  There is still that strong political audience that votes based on which candidate is the most Christian...or failing that, perhaps who is the least Muslim...and committing all manner of solecism in announcing their intent.  So much for America being an all-inclusive entity of race, spirituality, and ideas.

As of right now, the returns from Iowa show Mitt Romney in a virtual tie with Rick Santorum and Ron Paul running up close behind them.   A pity.  Newt's actually come off as the sanest of the bunch recently.  Did I just write that? 
I suppose I'm just sour over the extreme likelihood that Romney will get the nomination.  The man really shouldn't bother me.  He is, as alluded to above, a politician just like Obama and all of the others.  But there's something about this guy.  Something extra phony, plastic, fake, and...well, Ken doll-like.  It's almost like he's a Republican version of a Kardashian.*
Well settle in, folks.  It's going to be a long year and we can't be certain what things will look like by the end of it all...except very much the same as they are now.


*For an interesting and hilarious take on the Kardashians, check out Wil Wheaton's appearance on The Nerdist Year in Review.  He's a bit vitriolic for my tastes and makes a comparison that I wouldn't but he's essentially correct.  Why bother trying to create art and to add to the world when you can make millions as a worthless reality star who is famous for...???????
Oh yeah that's right.  A sex tape.


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