Breaking a Promise

I told myself that this time around I was going to be different. I was going to keep my head low, make sure that everything I was doing was nice and kosher and remember to NOT get involved with the United States political machine. Well, basically, I lied!
I decided to write about this after seeing two things. One, the Josh Romney memes. For those that don’t know, this is an image of Mitt’s son who is staring intently at the candidates at one of the debates, and it has spawned a whole slew of images with ridiculous texts attached to them. I suggest you check them out, as at least one of them will leave you giggling. The second is a video on YouTube who’s style has been around for about a year and a half called “The Epic Rap Battles of History.” These battles pit two characters against each other that are usually somewhat similar in name or ideology and have them rap about their lives and achievements. Examples include Master Chief from Halo vs. King Leonidas from 300 (both Spartans); Mr. Rogers vs. Mr. T; or my personal favorite, Adolf Hitler vs. Darth Vader. The most recent of these however, is Mitt Romney vs. Barack Obama.

I am by no definition knowledgeable when it comes to the presidency or national and international politics in general. But I do know forensics and debate, and having taken some time to sit down and watch the debates after the fact and see some of the commentary on it, I still don’t understand how either candidate got away with what they did during the debates. If I had done or said a quarter of the amount that both candidates did when I was in debate in high school, I would have gotten my team kicked out of the debate faster than the force of relative gravity. As I continued to watch I just needed the moderator to get up from their chair and smack either candidate whenever they spoke out of turn. Sadly, nothing like this happened in any of the debates.

The polls keep switching direction; Romney’s in the lead, Barack’s in the lead, slipping back and forth with an error rate in the statistics that really lets one know that nobody knows what the hell is going on. That’s the nature of statistics for anyone that hasn’t taken a class on it. It’s looking at numbers and making a guess, an educated one, but a guess nonetheless.

I still don’t know whom I’m going to vote for. I have an idea, but every time I think I’ve nailed it down, the candidate of my choice does something so mind-numbingly stupid that I have to take a step back and shake my head in confusion saying “I can’t believe you just said that.” Needless to say that no matter what happens in the weeks coming up to the election, much like the “Epic Rap Battle” between the two, I think neither candidate is going to win, though maybe Abraham Lincoln may!

Stanley is a senior majoring in computer science.