The latest complaints that have come out of the dissention in our Democratic primaries are based on The Clinton campaign's displeasure with the consensus that Hillary Clinton's nomination no longer has a chance. These complaints range from attacking the media to blaming the Obama campaign for the message that Senator Clinton should simply desist. While the Obama campaign has been very careful to not suggest such a thing, he is taking unwarranted heat for the idea. The push for Hillary to quit is loud, but it is not coming from the campaign. It is not coming from the media. It is coming from computer keyboards everywhere. It is not because the process has been going on too long. It is because this version of the process is tired. I am tired of this version of the process. I am really tired. I am exhausted.
I am tired of Howard Wolfson. I am really tired of Terry McAuliffe. I am sick and tired of Lanny Davis. I was unbelievably tired of Kiki McLean, but I haven't seen much of her lately, for which I am grateful. I was tired of Mark Penn, but I was more tired with the kinds of things he would say - who could forget two cocaine references in one broadcast about not talking about cocaine references. In fact, I am still tired of the fact that I remember that he made me tired. Who knew that Jabba the Hut could ever make you tired (where's Yoda when you need him)? As far as other campaign personnel might go, I am tired that I even know this much about someone's campaign for whom I never intended to vote.
I am tired of shifting goal lines. I am tired of the press acting as if these delusional premises were sufficient probable cause to allow the aforementioned people I am tired of to speak on the subject. I am tired of everyone taking these inane talking points seriously. I am tired of the media being blamed for inequities when they have bent over backwards to present said delusional premises. I am tired of the largest delusion of all being allowed to go on this long. I am tired of the delusion that the popular vote means anything when millions of people voted in caucuses where they don't count votes as individual ballots. I am tired of every single person in the media who has not pointed this fact out every time said delusional aforementioned goal post has been brought up.
I am tired of Florida, and Michigan. Sorry folks, I am not saying that you shouldn't be counted; I am just saying that I am tired of your states' political apparatus, apparatuses, apparatii, causing so much grief and pretending like they didn't have anything to do with what got us all into this mess. I am dog tired of hearing that there is only one candidate who cares for you and does not want you disenfranchised, especially when everyone on earth has told you that you will be seated at the convention. I am tired of people not listening to everyone on earth.
I am tired of people suggesting that winning a primary permanently disqualifies anyone else from ever getting the voters from that state to ever support them - even if they are the nominee. I am tired of polls. I am really tired of quoting polls that are clearly the most pessimistic polls of the day for Senator Obama, even when all the other polls say something different. I am tired of polls being treated in equal regard to primaries and caucuses.
I am tired of anyone thinking that "Yes She Will" is a slick answer to "Yes We Can". I am tired of people not understanding the difference between "We" and "She". I am tired of every speech centered on the word "I". (I really had to think a long time about that one, considering the construct of this post, but I couldn't resist the truth and the utter audaciousness of the attempt.)
I am tired of Gas Tax Holiday's that do not have the legislation in place to even be voted on, let alone exist. I am tired of hearing that a war was voted on using one's best judgment at the time. I am tired that voting for the Iranian Guard as a recognized terrorist organization is regarded as an intelligent act when we know this terminology was exactly what was used to goad us into war. I am tired of someone who claims to want to end a war, while threatening to obliterate nearby countries, claiming that they have any level of armed services experience that anyone else would recognize as intelligent. I am unbelievably tired at the level of cynicism and disregard for the intellectual capacity of the American people. I am tired of watching someone think that they are pulling the wool over everyone's eyes.
I am tired of blue collar voters. I am tired of "hard working Americans, white Americas". I am tired of a populist message found only after Edwards was out of the race. I am tired of the initials AA (sorry bloggers). I've been sober for 20 years, and every time I see that I think you are talking about drunks. I am, oh, so tired of everyone I know being sliced and diced in the classic demographic humble pie we all know as divide and conquer.
I am tired of being considered in Hillary's prime demographic group. I am tired of the insult that it levels at my concept of independence. I am tired of being told that this woman represents me. I am tired of being told that this is my model for feminism. I am tired of perimenopause, so I am also pissed off. So when I say that I don't relate to, and am tired of, these other pissed off women, I want you to understand the depth to which I do not relate.
I am tired of her husband wagging his finger at us. I am tired of her bobbing head, up and down, as she thinks she makes a point. I am tired of the look on her face when she is doing that, as if to say - see, you agree with me, you know I'm right, that is the truth. I am tired of people not seeing that when she is doing this it is rarely the truth. I am tired of people who don't play poker and don't know a tell when they see one. I am eternally grateful that Bill and Hillary's are so obvious.
So, when I say that I am tired of all of this, as you can see. It has nothing to do with the length of the primary season. It has everything to do with the kind of campaigning that has been waged in a war of perception that I am ashamed to have witnessed. To think that after the last 8 years of Rovian mind bending we would have to put up with this from a fellow Democrat is, well, mind bending.
What I am not tired of is something that I am unbelievably proud of witnessing. I am witnessing a candidate who has enough energy and integrity to over come everything that makes me so tired. Everything that makes us all so tired, and that is a lot of energy to overcome. I am simply amazed at the clarity of spirit that shines through, and not only feeds the soul, but offers hope that is not vague. Hope that is specific in it's knowledge that it will take all of us to shift everything that needs shifting - and is not only conscious, but realistic. That kind of pragmatism gives me energy. That kind of reasoning implies that given the facts, we can all come up with enough energy to take on the truly brutal choices that we have in front of us.