I used to be submerged in politics. I could recall every minute detail of the day’s activity on The Hill. It was legitimately exciting to me, like sports to my friends. I felt like I could walk right on at CNN and have an informed opinion about anything the President was involved in. Now, I feel like I’ve recently been following politics so little that I can barely comment on it. This is not happenstance.
Let me get this straight: the President is going to potentially get sued or impeached? Wow! What happened? Surely some war crimes, money laundering, extortion, bribery, or treason took place, right? No. He delayed the implementation of the employer mandate of the Affordable Care Act. Sounds serious, how many years in prison is that? Oh, it’s just executive overreach. Isn’t that why we have checks and balances in our government? What actual crime took place? Oh, nothing. Ok, makes total sense.
All of this nonsense could possibly be summed up as political theater. But the larger point to me is that I don’t even care anymore. I really don’t. It’s so dumb, amateurish, and sad that I don’t want to devote anymore time into deciphering the underlying political strategies. I’ve basically checked out. I might join the ranks of people like my sister who don’t own a TV, live in the wilderness when they can, and wouldn’t know if World War III started. I can almost sympathize with people who think politics is stupid and doesn’t really matter. The Obama presidency has been such a joke. The opposition in Washington hates him personally and blocks everything he tries to do. They don’t understand that elections have consequences. News flash: when your side loses, things are going to happen that you don’t like. Maybe racism outweighs common sense. Remember the birth certificate thing? I wonder what motivated that? What could it have possibly been? Now I’m far from a person who blames everything on racism, but if you can’t acknowledge that racism still plays even the slightest role in some people’s motivations, I think you are completely ignorant of reality and your opinion has no value to me.
Obama really seemed like a transformative figure. I bought the “Hope and Change” message, as did a lot of my peers, and much of America. Obama just seemed to possess something different: nuance, reflection, understanding, smarts, empathy. What has transpired in his presidency is more of the same—but worse. America is more polarized than ever. Politics is as ugly as it’s ever been. Talk of suing and impeaching a president over non-crimes? It’s too much! I became jaded. I withdrew. My heart is cold. All of this doesn’t even get a rise out me anymore. I simply shrug my shoulders. If pressed to display an emotion, it’s most likely to be one of amusement, laughter. If a presidential candidate riding a title wave like Obama merely sprinkles onto shore by the end of his term, what hope does that leave for the next “transformative” candidate. Not much. It’s sad. I can’t see myself getting hyped for another candidate because I already know what will happen. The forces of cynicism and hatred will tear him or her down. Maybe I’ll snap out of this by 2016. Maybe I’ll experience a lost decade. Who knows? But right now, fuck politics.