I Don't Understand Your Methodology, America.

So, after about 6 weeks, I finally started reading some of my subscriptions, and I happened upon this little gem from Ann Applebaum. I remember when I was a wee youngin, writing a reflection on one of her more mundane and rambling op-eds, and realizing sharply that her work often encourages America's disordered thinking. However, she may finally....finally have come around. [WaPo].

Sadly, we all remember how America twice elected George W. Bush, hailing him the candidate they most wanted to throw a few back with. 8 years later, we're somehow still talking about this, and even, horrifyingly, using this characteristic as a ruler for electability. Apparently, and I'm going to have to take Applebaum's word for it since I've spent the last month or so reading Women's Wear Daily and watching copious amounts of TLC, Bravo, and HSN, America is shitting itself over the fact that Sens. Obama and McCain aren't as "nice" as we once thought.

Well no shit. It takes a great deal of ego and arrogance to run for President of the United States. Seriously, to seek any elected office, you have to be pretty fucking convinced that you're the greatest and most intelligent person in the world. Now, that's not to say that the halls of legislatures and executives across the United States are filled with raging megalomaniacs, although I'm certainly not willing to wager my salary that they're not. But really, America, after 8 years of a country led by the guy everyone wanted to have a beer with, don't we think maybe, just maybe, it's time to be sober this time around?

Electing someone idealistic is certainly a good thing, but when we delude ourselves into thinking that that idealism is going to persist throughout a full term is completely absurd. Of course, an idealistic candidate is still going to be an idealist, but holding elected office, especially one as demanding as President of the United States, is going to provide a shock of realism that campaigning can't.

Having spent a longer-than-necessary amount of time on Capitol Hill, and now in my fashion industry refuge, I can tell you with some authority that the ones most able to maintain their idealism through the demands of performance are the ones who are less "the guy you want to have a beer with", and more "the guy you want running the country."