I'm going to pose this question, though I'm aware it's pretty far in advance: who will you be voting for in 2012? Come on, give me an answer...right now! Hurry! You have to know already!
Do you see the insanity in that question as much as I do? I realize this entry isn't specifically about Georgia politics, but as Georgians, we will vote for the candidate we want our electors to cast their votes for in the presidential election, so it still matters. It doesn't take long after one presidential election for people/pundits/folks like me to begin talking about the next one; and to begin speculating as to the candidates who will enter the race. But I think we all need to bring ourselves down a notch or two, and realize that it's only 2010. Big things can happen. Big changes can be made. The political arena is one permeated with fluidity. Otherwise, it'd be easy to tell who was going to win and why. One huge success, one huge failure, one huge scandal, can always make one huge difference, and things can change overnight. My point being that if you've already decided the candidate you want to vote for (or explicitly won't vote for) in 2012, then I personally believe you've jumped the gun a little bit. It's alright to have a general idea, sure. I, for one, could not fathom a circumstance that would merit me voting for Sarah Palin, if she's the Republican nominee. My vote just won't swing that way. But it's completely different for me say that in 2012 I'm going to vote for Barack Obama, no matter what, circumstances notwithstanding. That's insane.
I voted for President Obama in 2008, proudly. It was the first presidential election I was able to cast a vote in, and I will forever remember that feeling. All the people that I voted for in 2008 did not win (Jim Martin), but I will never forget the elation of having found a candidate who I vehemently supported, and then seeing millions of other citizens join with me in casting our votes and pushing him to victory. Since then, his poll numbers have fluctuated a bit though, and that's a part of what motivated this writing. Just recently, I saw a poll of "disaffected" Obama voters:
I'm not fully aware of what constitutes a "disaffected" Obama voter; it could be that you're disappointed with one thing, it could be that you're disappointed with fifty things, or it might be voters who wish they could go back and change their votes...I don't really know. But these voters are, I assume, willing to concede that they could vote for someone else in 2012 for the sake of this poll. And the only Republican even pulling marginal numbers with disaffected Obama voters is...drum roll please...Mitt Romney. As if we all couldn't have guessed that. He's the only one viewed more positively than negatively (by 1 percentage point). Granted, I am not totally well versed in all of Mr. Romney's policies, but if I had to name someone out of the Republican field who I think is at least coherent and viable, it would be him. And he would fall right in line with the Republican norm of runners up grabbing the bar. Reagan, G.H.W. Bush, Bob Dole, John McCain, etc., were all runners-up/candidates previously at some point in time. Mitt Romney would fit that bill. The problem is, he's not viewed very favorably by the hardcore Republican base, which sometimes has the power to swing the primaries. I wouldn't exactly call myself a disaffected Obama voter, I'm actually quite proud of many of his accomplishments. I just always find it curious that some voters are willing to entertain questions about the next presidential election as soon as they've walked out the doors of their local polling precinct having cast their vote in the current one. So the next time someone asks you about who you're going to vote for in 2012, tell them that it's completely up to you to decide that, and you will.....in 2012.
OH I ALMOST FORGOT...who are you going to vote for in 2012? ;-)
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