I don’t know how to win elections….

Cross posted at the Daily Kos:

I’ve always followed politics to some degree; I remember staying awake to check out the Nixon-Humphrey election.

My parents voted for Humphrey and I remember the election being a real heart breaker.

My direct involvement was limited; my only “official” volunteer job came in 1992 when I was a poll watcher for the Democratic party.

In 2004 that changed; that was the year I volunteered to help out Kerry and some local Democrats. That ended unhappily but I’ve been involved every since…

And so I read the blogs, hang out here, scarf up the debates and the news and educate myself on the issues.

In turn, I write blog posts (I get lots of hits on this one) phone bank and go door to door when the occasion arises. Yes, I also donate money.

So, you’d think that I’d know something about politics and how to win elections, right? Wrong.

Here is some of the evidence that I don’t know anything.

1. Remember Obama’s big speech? Ok, there are lots of them, but I mean the acceptance speech:

I thought it was a good speech and I am glad that he took on John McCain.

But notice how he took him on: he tied him to the failed policies of the past. What he didn’t address about McCain is the issue that bothers me the most: John McCain simply doesn’t know what the hell he is doing!

This is basic stuff and McCain is supposed to be a national security expert!

But notice that Obama never attacks McCain’s competence or capacity!

Seriously: would you want to be operated on by someone who doesn’t know basic anatomy? Would you want an airline pilot who doesn’t know the basics of aerodynamics?

But instead he goes after McCain on things like the number of houses that he owns (and frankly, I don’t care about that)

But, Obama’s attacks have proven to be effective, and yes, some of my friends WERE outraged at McCain’s “I’ll have to have my staff get back to you on that” answer to the “how many houses do you own question.

I don’t get it at all.

2. McCain now picks as his running mate the Governor of state with a small population (680,000 people) whose only prior experience was being a small town mayor.

She is also a rabid right winger (anti-choice, anti-environment, and a creationist).

Yes, I’ve gotten letters from MoveOn.org, Barbara Boxer and Planned Parenthood denouncing this pick. But I’ve gotten nothing from the Obama campaign; not even a “they are so scary, so now send us more money” letter.

This is their ad:

There is nothing saying: “look at the rabid right wing idiot that this jackass picked”.

I don’t get it.

Nevertheless, others said that Obama’s repsonse works for them!

3. I see the two tickets (McCain-Palin vs. Obama-Biden) has having a HUGE IQ discrepancy. You have a bumbler who graduated almost dead last in his class versus a Harvard Law Review type at the top; a wealth of knowledge versus not knowing much at all in the no. 2 spot.

Again, I see nothing from the campaigns stressing this. To me, this is a huge issue.

So, what is boils down to is this: I really don’t understand what makes the typical voter tick. And, the longer I stay involved, the more I realize that I don’t know squat.