Time to step away from the computer

The race shifted on Tuesday night. Hillary Clinton passed an important test and has reasserted herself in this race. Now it's nine weeks until I get my opportunity to vote, and it's going to be a battle royale here in North Carolina. I'm invested: emotionally and financially I'm committed to Barack Obama.

And with that shift and that urgency and that investment, I can't read the blogs or listen to the talking heads anymore. It's become too emotionally draining to take in the spin and the vitriol and the anger that comes from the campaigns, and in particular the Clinton's. This new line of attack painting Obama as Ken Starr because he wants her tax returns released particularly disgusts me. As does the McCain comparison... and the bullshit NAFTA chages for that matter. I could go on but you get the point.

But to be fair, it's hard to see Obama hit her back too. Even though we know it's inevitable at this point, I really want Obama to run a 100% positive campaign, which he's done to this point. Sadly, cynicism and fear triumphed in Ohio and now he'll almost certainly have to step slightly in the mud to fight back. It would be great if he could hammer her on the tax return issue but we've already heard whispers about those cattle deals from the '70's. Call me a hopeless optimist, but I didn't want to beat the Clinton's on bullshit from the '90's, I wanted to beat her on the issues and on vision (where he's got her trumped in spades).

So now I'm deciding to turn off the computer and television and walk away. Well... who am i kidding, maybe I'll just keep myself to 1 hour a day. Obsessing over the latest tidbit of campaign news can take a lot of a guy, and it's not productive in the least.

But what perfect timing. For the next several weeks I get to go kick ass in the streets for Obama. Phonebanking, voter registration, group organizing, visibility events, fundraising, yea baby! That's the stuff I need to be focusing on. Not the latest bullshit spin from the campaigns or what some douchebag like Chris Matthews has to say. Those of us living in WY, MS, PA, NC, IN... it's time to step away and get to work.

I'm Fired Up and Ready to Go.