McCain's Speech

From cable news to the scybala of the blogging world, it seems every half-wit with access to communications equipment is talking about how McCain messed up a speech on the night of Obama's clinching of the Democratic nomination. Obama, in front of thousands of people, gave an inspiring speech, they say. Energetic, youthful, hopeful, and other adjectives that make the mediocre inhabitants of the mainstream feel all warm and fuzzy inside. McCain, on the other hand, with an ugly green backdrop, looking old in front of just a few hundred people, gave a lackluster speech.

Election campaigns sometimes amuse, but mostly exasperate me. McCain's speech writer didn't do his best work. So what? What does that have to do with what kind of president McCain would be? What does that have to do with what kind of president Obama would be?

If voters were rational, no one would care about the spectacle of speeches. All we would need to know is what policies each candidate supports. Whichever candidate whose views most closely match our own would get our vote.

But voters are irrational. They are stupid. They'd rather vote for the better speaker; the better actor; the better people person. The guy who isn't stiff, or awkward. The guy who will lie to your face to get what he wants from you. So candidates visit restaurants and factories. They ride in pickup trucks. They endlessly shake hands and kiss babies. They talk about "important" issues, like abortion and gun control.

It's all a big farce. If there were any real difference between the candidates there wouldn't be a need for this condescending approach to campaigning.

So long as voters remain morons, they deserve poor leaders. I'm happy that whoever wins the presidential election will fulfill that role.