election thoughts, of course

[dancingyel]

so, to join most of my friends-list, here's a brief (v. brief) summary of my election thoughts. definitely not happy about the result. i voted for kerry, despite the fact that i think he wasn't a very good candidate, and i'm very sad to see bush win. the thing is, though, i think that people (my whole campus) are being a bit melodramatic about it all. yes, bush sucks. yes, there are a lot of things we don't agree with in terms of his policy. but honestly, i have a hard time believing kerry would be hugely different. he was just not strong enough of a personality and made bad campaign decisions, so i don't know how effective he would be as a leader of this country. i mean, a leader needs to have a platform other than "i'm not bush!" yes, that's a reason to vote for him, but really, it didn't make me feel very good about voting. the other thing is, it's kerry's fault he lost. that seems like a silly thing to say, but really, it was his election to win or lose. there are so many people who hate bush that kerry should've had an easier time with it than he did. i think he was a bad candidate for the democratic party, and even ignoring that, i think he did a bad job with his campaign. he needed to take stronger positions on everything and not base a major part of his campaign on the fact that he's not bush. he clearly convinced a lot of people, but not enough...i feel like his effort just got off to a slow start, and that hurt him significantly. not only did he lose time, he also lost some status, if that makes sense. if he had gotten off to a better start, i think people, including myself, would've felt more confident about having him as our leader.

so yes. that's a ramdly summary of my thoughts. now, there's not a lot to do but wait and see what happens. that, or move to canada, i guess.

Comments

[bluepony0628.livejournal.com]

I agree with you, Elaine. Yeah we could rant on Bush, but better to live with it then get all up n arms about it. I saw on the news that not enough young people (btwn the ages of 18-24) went out to vote. I was disappointed too but ... I guess it's no different then yesterday ... one of the many things that aggravated me was the fact that I stayed up to watch the election hoping for a difference when I could have been studying. Oh well. Totally sucks but thats what tonight is for. Hope all is well!! =)

[bluepony0628.livejournal.com]

oh yes, and Canada looks like a wonderful place to be right now .. anywhere but here !!!!

[earlgrayteahot.livejournal.com]

interesting icon.

[dancingyel.livejournal.com]

it was made by grass_stained

[myrn.livejournal.com]

I think the whole melodramatic aspect is kind of fun. And even somewhat necessary, because I think you're right that kerry would not have been hugely different. On the other hand, it is the issues that did not make the limelight of this election (at least not till the very end) that cause several people I know to be seriously concerned about the direction in which Bush wishes to lead this country. And now we've gone and given him a "mandate" (he even won the popular vote this time). Once again, Sigh.

[dancingyel.livejournal.com]

you're right about the issues with bush, in terms of where he's gonna lead the country. i'm worried about supreme court nominees and the economy and civil rights, but the melodrama is a little too much for me. i mean, there's nothing we can do now about who the president is, and by being melodramatic, people are putting the focus on that instead of on the issues at hand. all we can do now is try to affect senators and such, but even that will be largely useless, what with the republican majority everywhere. sigh. that seems to sum it up.

[dancingyel.livejournal.com]

i'm so sad about the fact that college kids seemed to be registered and poised to vote dut didn't actually! such a let down, because that could've made the difference. it wasn't as close as the last election, but it may have made a difference in a few crucial states. i dunno. it's very sad, but we just have to move on from here.

what are you talking about?

[newerabooks.livejournal.com]

I'm not sure about the national young ppl numbers, but here are some local facts:
UCSD's polling places RAN OUT OF ENGLISH BALLOTS.
The exit poll at UCSD had 244 responses, which means that something like 1250 students voted on campus. People were waiting in lines anywhere from two to four and a half hours. In past elections, the line has been like ten minutes, maximum, unless you go right before they close.
In the UC system as a whole, 1854 responses means something like 9300 voters at the on-campus polls.
A friend at Oberlin (in Ohio, that contested state) waited in line for five hours to vote. They sure tried to make a difference over there!
My conclusion is that college students really showed an upswing in interest in this election. Voting is low no matter what age group you look at, but I think we have showed an improvement in the college age group over what we saw in the last few years.
That's just my humble optimistic opinion.

Re: what are you talking about?

[dancingyel.livejournal.com]

you're right in that there were lots more college kids than ever before, but not as many as people expected. i don't have the article i read about it right now, but i'll find it and link it for you.

so yeah, there's definitely an improvement in voting, especially in our age group, but there's a lot of room for improvement. which, really, is optimistic, because if voter turnout was super high among college kids but kerry still lost, that would be even sadder.