This Election Is No Fun At All

I went to a social event in my neighborhood on Saturday night. When my good friend, who happens also to be our state representative, sat down across from me, I just couldn't help myself.

"Not to talk shop or anything, but just for one minute, what is up with that Palin for vice president?"

"Why? What do you mean?" he asked. I could tell he was cringing a little. From the inside. And not because of the question. It's because he had no answer.

"I can see Russia from my house!" I replied, in my Palin voice.

"That was Tina Fey, not Palin," his wife helpfully interjected.

"Yeah, I know that," I said, "but it might as well have been Palin. Her answers aren't any better."

The other people sitting around us joined in. "You don't like Palin?" they asked, dejectedly.

"She might be smart. Maybe in 5 years, or in 10 years, she'll make a good leader. But now? I don't think so," I said.

Even though this was normally a rabidly republican crowd, I could detect little enthusiasm for Palin. Or McCain for that matter.

"How could anyone vote for Obama?" one lady asked, incredulously.

Everyone nodded their head in agreement. This Obama character is like some scary joke. An American Chavez. Hugo, not Cesar.

On Sunday afternoon, I attended my monthly book club lunch, in the city (Pittsburgh, not New York). I picked up one of the ladies on my way there, an 80-something widow, a stanch Catholic who counts among her friends many a priest, monk, friar and nun. When her garage door opened, I was disheartened to spy a "Catholics for Obama" bumper sticker on her Prius. It seemed to me that "Catholics for Obama" was a non-sequitur. But then, she does drive a Prius. I didn't mention it when she got into the car.

When we got to the restaurant, it became readily apparent that I was in the minority here. One lady, an overbearing aggessive type with a long gray braid trailing from her ear-telephone adorned head, carried with her a big Obama-Biden poster, which she giddily explained she had just acquired from the Obama stand down the block. The buzz-level at the table rose, as the ladies excitedly shared that they were going to get their own Obama posters and buttons as soon as lunch was over.

One of the ladies, mindful of my own political sensibilities, let the group in on my secret. "Julie's a republican," she confided to the others, tactfully. They all looked at me with a combination of veiled scorn and sympathy. One started to ask me a question, when I cut her off.

"Look," I said, "I'm not voting for Obama. I'm not a fan of McCain, and I was thinking about not voting at all, but my husband reminded me that I have to. It's my civic duty. So I will vote, just not for Obama. And I don't want to talk about it because clearly I'm in the minority here."

They tried a few more times during the lunch to engage me, but I recused myself.

"Did you see my bumper sticker?" my widow-friend asked as we drove home from lunch.

"I did see that," I said, without offering more.

"You know, I could have voted for McCain," she continued. "But I was so angry he picked Palin for his vice president! Palin!"

"Yeah," I said, "I know."

I talked to my mother on the phone Sunday night. "I talked to Bob today," she said, referring to my youngest brother, a republican like almost every other person in my huge extended family. "He's furious at McCain for picking Palin."

"Yeah, him and a lot of other people," I said.

I went to my exercise class yesterday, here in the heart of Suburbia.

"I can't believe we're going to lose this election," one friend lamented as we prepared to work on our biceps. "I'm never going to be able to retire."

Yes, my friends, the mood here in Suburbia, a red enclave ensconced in a blue state, is decidedly grim. No one cares that Obama associates with a domestic terrorist. No one cares that he has no executive experience. No one cares that he subscribes to black liberation theology. No one cares that he is what my psychiatrist sister dubs as nothing more than "an empty vessel," ready to espouse whatever socialist ideology has been poured into him by those that would use his many gifts for purposes that may very well undermine the very freedoms we cherish.

And Obama does possess many gifts. He is eloquent, handsome, charismatic, and yes, smart. We just have to hope he uses those gifts wisely and evolves into a leader we can respect.