Watching Paint Dry in Iowa

I painted a small watercolour and am now watching it dry. Sorry, no. I am watching CNN and the results of the Iowa caucuses come in. Maybe I was right the first time.

What a dull election this is going to be. We have forty four weeks of numbing bullshit to get through before the actual election. Unless something remarkable happens, Obama will secure a second term, even though he does not deserve one and the Republican party will make gains in congress, further stifling real change and growth for some time.

Gone are real politics. You remember. There were real issues in which true ideological and moral differences were debated. When policy mattered. When true choices were not between who flip-flopped more or who is more entertaining, but on issues.

Character features a lot in the commentaries. But this is a spill-over from Entertainment Tonight and Dancing with the Stars. Kennedy was a character and it was well known around the media that he was “putting it about” (as we Brits say) – did it matter? Nixon was a character first time around and while this played out second term, everything he did was a straight line from his well known past. Bush II was a well known dumball, but he got elected once and was judged the winner first time around. Carter..well I think the point is clear. Right now, character plays second fiddle to anyone with courage, determination and policy.

By policy I don’t mean intention or a general desire. I mean an action plan. Obama won a Nobel Prize for having intention. Means nothing. What the world needs is someone with policies, courage, conviction and determination.

I don’t see anyone on either side of the house with these qualities. Time to get my brushes and watercolours out. I will need them. It will be a long and very dull forty four weeks.