Spare change; My two cents

After John Kerry was defeated in the 2004 American election, I blamed Bruce Springsteen. Well, to be fair, I only partly blamed him.

See, I am pretty sure that when the Democratic party parades their celebrity endorsers, as they have done in the last two elections and are doing again in the current one, it drives a wedge between the candidate and his or her potential constituency. Naturally, Republicans try to do the same, but for them, it backfires to their advantage because only lame “stars” like Chuck Norris pony up. I believe the result is that the GOP ends up looking more like autograph seekers than the famous elite who sign their names on books and posters and the glorious bosoms of adoring fans. And let’s face it, most Americans are autograph seekers who just want to vote for a guy who understands their needs.

Don’t get me wrong. I didn’t vote for Bush, and I won’t pull the lever for McCain, either. But will I support Obama? Gosh, I don’t know. Sometimes I think he’s great. In my lifetime, I’ve never been so moved by a public speaker as I have been by him, and all of my friends think he’s simply the bees’ knees. But he’s a crafty politician, too, and I occasionally find his policy choices maddening. Here are four quick examples: (1) He proved two weeks ago that privacy isn’t as important to him as it is to me when he sided with Republicans and voted for a bill that allows warrantless surveillance of international telephone calls and emails. (2) Despite his lifelong fight for civil rights, he still believes that marriage is an institution meant only for a man and a woman. (3) He thinks it’s OK to fuse religion with government-sponsored programs, as he proved earlier this month when he came out in support of George W. Bush-type faith-based initiatives. And worst of all (4) Jennifer Aniston has endorsed him.

Barack Obama has spent a lot of time and money campaigning for change, but I can’t always figure out how he’s so different from the rest of the bunch. All that seems to be changing in his campaign these days is his heart, and that makes me wonder if I’ll even bother voting at all…

By the way, as he did for John Kerry, Bruce Springsteen has also come out in support of Obama. Only this time around, the Boss might blow my whole theory and actually do a candidate some good. You see, it was just revealed in an article by Reuters that “[Springsteen's] comments at 1988 concert helped fed [sic] East Germans’ discontent,” and, it seems, he was probably one of the key catalysts for bringing down the Berlin wall. Heck, who wouldn’t want a guy like that on his team? That’s an endorsement that’s almost good enough to guarantee my vote. But, then again, it kind of makes me wonder: What the hell has Jennifer Aniston ever done?