February 6th, 2004
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Dean for America, the working man
When I read this ten or even two years from now, I’m sure myself (like most people) will have a hard time remembering who was intricately involved with the democratic momination (but who could forget Dukakis?), but as for the next five months, it’s relevant. Oddly, I find myself more caught up in this competiton than any before. Maybe it’s because I live overseas, or maybe because I’m four years older, or maybe just because I feel guilty I didn’t do more for the only politician I’ve ever cared for, Al Gore. In any case, I’m behind Howard Dean now, and like most Dean supporters I’m getting a really eerie feeling that something’s going south fast and there’s going to be two big lobbyist republicans on the ticket in October.
Politicians are funny: they rarely say what they mean, implement little of the policy that they promise, and perform any number of subtle tricks to win over the general public. The interesting thing is they work to a considerable degree. For example, on his website, Howard Dean has a picture with his sleeves rolled up. I heard somewhere that’s supposed to signify that he gets his hands dirty, that he gets things done, he’s a working man for the common citizen, the people’s champion if you will. I used to be quite cynical about stuff like that, but now I find myself actually feeling good about it. Maybe it’s because I can sympathize with the salary man’s plight now that I work over sixty-five hours a week myself (and will continue to do so to at least the end of February).
Today the boss said, “I’m going to have to ask you to come in on Saturday.” It took everything I had not to laugh.
