I'm tempted to write another column conducting a long, involvedpost-mortem on the election, but at this point, most people alreadyhave their opinions solidly established on the results, and mosteverything that can be said already has been. We Republicans areoff and running with our winnings and Democrats are off lickingtheir wounds and trying to regroup.
So, I'll just come out and say I've found a little bit of JohnKerry inside myself. I'm a flip-flopper. Or maybe just aflip-flipper.
Nothing frustrates my fianc�e more than my fondness forfreely flipping channels at every opportunity. How many times hasshe sat down to see what I'm watching only to have me flip toanother channel almost right away? Usually, she'll lightly chastiseme with, "Hey, I was just getting interested in that!" - andreluctantly, I will turn back to that station.
At no time is this more apparent then when I'm watching footballon the weekends. On Saturdays, anyone who watches college footballknows that approximately half the stations in existence carry somesort of football game, even if it is a game along the lines ofDartmouth versus Cornell. Of course, when I'm watching the games,as soon as there is even the hint of a commercial I'm off andrunning for the next game. Alissa has told me many times that shewouldn't mind watching sports with me if she could ever figure outwhich game I'm watching.
So why do I flip? Probably because I'm afraid that somewhere, insome game, something exciting will happen and I'll be stuck herewatching competing ads for erectile dysfunction medications. Theend result, usually, is that I flip away from the game I reallywant to watch to some other game for the commercial break, getinvolved in watching that second game, and by the time I flip backsomething really exciting has happened in the game I really wantedto watch. I've missed it, and now I'm stuck watching SportsCenterhighlights to find out what happened.
Today, it struck me how closely my football-viewing habits matchthe political interests of our nation by and large. People watchwhen things are exciting, when it's third and long, or when Ohio iswaiting to be called, and then as soon as the touchdown is scored,or the election is over, they lose interest. After that moment ofultimate joy or sadness, the game just isn't that entertaining anymore. They flip away to watch something better for a while, and aresurprised when they come back and the complexion of the game haschanged.
Most of the electorate, both right and left, is made of thesekinds of channel-surfing voters. Only that peculiar hardcore onboth sides keeps careful track of the issues and the score duringthe whole game.
For those of us in the minority which continually followspolitics, and those of us who write about politics, I offer thispiece of advice: never take your eyes off the game. It may be theboring stretch of the third quarter right now, where both teams arejust trying to run out the clock, but we are the SportsCenter ofthe political world, and if we don't tell most of America whatthey've missed, no one will.
Write to Tim at tabirkel@bsu.edu
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