I Just Don’t Know If I Can Take It

This past week brought with it a gaggle of news related to potential 2016 presidential candidates. A white paper on economic policy was released from the continuing shadow-campaign of presumptive Democratic front-runner Hillary Clinton. 2012 Republican Nominee Mitt Romney has sent out trial balloons for another potential run at the White House. Mitt spent the weekend in California, where he and fellow Republican office seeker JebBush have begun the fund raising portions of their potential campaigns. Former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee generated controversy as he managed to simultaneously pander to social conservatives and dog whistle to the White Nationalist wing of the Republican base by criticizing the Obama family for allowing their teenage daughters to listen to the music of pop superstar Beyoncé (Here would be a good place to remind people that former Governor Huckabeeonce performed Cat Scratch Fever on Fox News with noted lunatic and aficionado of underage flesh Ted Nugent.). There were other “news” stories related to potential candidates, but I am honestly too depressed and exhausted to dive down the rabbit hole to find them. 

Tonight, President Barack Obama will deliver the State of the Union address, and it will undoubtedly be the hottest news story for at least a news cycle or two, but sooner or later (my bet is definitely on sooner) the narrative will shift back to discussing the potential 2016 candidates, and what they had for breakfast or some equally unimportant “story” dressed up to resemble news. There are 658 days until the 2016 Presidential Election, and if you are curious why Americans are turned off from the political process, the next year and a half of what passes for journalism should give you a clue. I realize that the ongoing trench warfare that has come to typify Washington makes it difficult to feed the 24 hour news cycle, but for the love of God, that in and of itself is a story. We could actually discuss governance of the country, but that would require admitting that one party is not only preventing governance from occurring but is philosophically opposed to the entire concept. There are plenty of things that are wrong with our politics, but one of the most corrosive, in my opinion, is the perpetual campaign footing that Washington and our courtier press has established as the status quo. If this keeps up (and I’m sure it will), I’m going to be forced to spend my spare time counting the days until the start of Spring Training (That would be 28 days for those of you keeping track at home).