Politics this election season is pissing me off. Then again, when does it not?

I feel so conflicted about this year's election. I really would like a black man to be in the presidency, but Obama's policies do not please me. At all. I think a lot of us are seeking to elect him based on the cult of personality, which is NO reason to elect a president. He is only now starting to be clear and straightforward about his policies, which means Democrat primary voters chose him on his rhetorical skills. I would like to like him. I would like to have an articulate speaker in the office. Hell, I would even like to have a policymaker who is influenced by Nudge, which he says he is. In general though, Obama makes me uneasy. Biden doesn't do anything to make me more comfortable with the ticket.

McCain makes me uneasy as well. I like that he is not a traditional Republican--or at least, a Republican of the last eight years. At the same time, I hate that, as a libertarian, neither side can throw me a bone. These people are making me long for the days of Newt Gingrich and the Contract with America. SERIOUSLY? McCain hasn't shown a good understanding of economic policy that I would want in a president. So my vote for him, if I make one, would be lesser of two evils.

I enjoy that a woman is on the GOP ticket, and I even like the fiscal policies of Palin, as well as her independence from Big Oil, which in Alaska must be difficult. I read a great blog entry from an Alaskan who loves her and what she's done for the state. I wasn't able to watch her speech last night, but I've heard it was quite effective and really may throw everything into a very tight race, which is what I've been predicting to myself.

What I don't like is the discussion we're having on either side. No one should be rooting for Hurricane Gustav to be more disastrous so the RNC will be more disrupted. (Yes, I actually heard this.) No one should be deciding their vote based on the parenting skills (or not) of the vice-presidential nominee. Identity politics is not a good way to decide who is going to run your country, because it is not always reflective of how you think or what you value. Identity politics makes me so angry I can't see straight. I love that Sarah Palin is a female and competitive candidate, but just because she is those things doesn't influence my decision to vote for the ticket.

I guess I am one of those post-modern cosmopolitan elitists people have been ranting about. I think, however, that I try to make (and mostly succeed) a priority of respecting people who think and live differently than me, which doesn't seem to be the case in the national discourse. I had to stop reading one of the communities that I followed because the vitriol was just idiotic. Things are not black and white, and I hate that we all turn it into that. It prevents understanding the real complexity of the world we live in, which is just going to get more complicated. I am an optimist but this inability or refusal to step up to the intellectual plate really terrifies me.