I was chatting at length with my neighbor the other day. He has become greatly disillusioned with Obama’s seemingly centrist slant. He barely recovered from FISA, and then this off-shore drilling bit. The list goes on. He’s going to write in Kucinich come November elections. Fair enough. That’s what voting is about, I suppose.
I asked my neighbor whether we could afford to continue with McCain, because that’s the choice if Obama isn’t elected. He said that choosing the lesser of two evils was no way to change politics. I could see his point, I didn’t agree with him though. We are in a deep hole, do we want to dig deeper or do we at least want to halt the digging? I’m not sure that Obama could even level the ground, but perhaps the goal should be focused on damage control. My neighbor seemed reluctant to let go of his idealism.
Being nurses, I figured he could understand perhaps a more medically related analogy. When we have a diabetic patient who is either hypoglycemic or hyperglycemic, the most immediate concern is stabilizing the blood sugar, with either giving the patient glucose or insulin. Until the blood sugar has stabilized we do not address dietary or exercise concerns. As nurses we understand that those are long term goals, and that stabilizing glucose levels is the immediate goal. If the patient becomes comatose, then the diet is irrelevant in that moment. A McCain administration would mean ketoacidosis for our nation. Obama may not bring the organic vegan dietary changes some would ideally hope for, but he will be that shot of insulin that will stabilize our nation, from which we can build a brighter future.