Our Love-Hate Relationships with Presidents

… We, on both sides of the fight, are a sorry mess right now. Rachel Maddow or Rush Limbaugh feed our emotions and the NY Times or the Wall Street Journal provide the talking points. For the sake of civil discourse and a truly rounded perspective of issues – minus the animus associated with a particular ideology or a personality it would be a good idea for us, the smart ones in the crowd – the populace, to take a deep breath and then do more reading and research and less shouting and partisan debasing.

Good News for American Politics, Seriously …

Our bitter political partisanship actually has a silver lining as the 2012 presidential campaign approaches. If one can overcome the hyperbole and spin associated with either parties’ ideology as reported by the opposition and dismiss how the talking heads analyze every piece of polling data – the 2012 race will provide the most disparate choice of political philosophies as there has been in decades.

Unlike the 2008 campaign when the nation labored under Bush fatigue (to a certain degree, me included) and needed a fresh face, ideas and personality, the 2012 race will be a referendum on issues and challenges and not personas and images. In this instance there will be a stark difference between the parties, their candidate(s), and the way they will attack the problems we face.