will change make the grass greener?

Adam Epperson
MC 4356F
1,101 words
Which “Change” Will Bring the Greener Grass?
Is the grass always greener on the other side? Is change really such a good thing? It may seem like it is, but even by simply looking at politics you can see that change may not be what it seems.
This election year, Ill. Sen. Barrack Obama has appealed to voters with a promise for the change he would bring to the White House. It didn’t happen immediately, but after “change” became such a big seller with the American public, Ari. Sen. John McCain picked up the idea as well.
McCain’s promise for change seems to only indicate a change from the Bush administration, as in debates McCain does not deny that he has backed Bush 90 percent of the time.
Obama’s promise for change leads to questions, like how can he go about bringing forward these changes? McCain’s camp promises that these changes will come from taxes, a lot of taxes.
What actual changes the winning candidate can bring to the country won’t be apparent for the next few years, as it would take awhile for their policies to finally come into play. One can only hope that, with the economy on the brink of a possible depression and the country stuck in a war that may never end, though that is up to the president.
In 2000, the Electoral College voted in George W. Bush as they deemed the country ready to change pace from the Clinton administration, even though Gore got the most votes. A terrorist attack, the war in Afghanistan and six years of the Iraq invasion, Rolling Stone columnists and many others took these mistakes, which coincidentally started after Bush was sworn in, began to question whether he was the worst president of all time. What if Gore was president? Could have been better, could have been worse, we’ll never know. The country got the change half of them wanted, and they’ve paid for it.
In 2004, as the country was in the middle of the bloody failing war in Iraq, the country refused to step away from backing Bush, as they seemed to fear that change would give the terrorists a win, as Kerry wasn’t so trigger happy as Bush was. Change didn’t come, and we’re left wondering whether the country, which wasn’t in economic turmoil yet, would have let the economy crash so hard?
The Democratic Party had two different ways to change the country in their hand of cards this election year, a woman and an African American. Hillary and Obama raced in an epic battle before Obama won the race a few months ago. Both candidates are very qualified, possibly with Sen. Clinton being the more qualified, with Obama as the most impressive, motivating speaker, and the most likely to bring the biggest change into the White House.
McCain’s answer to this was to look around the country and it seemed like he would pick the Minnesota governor, Tim Pawlenty, before he reached into Alaska, or Canada-Lite. Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin was chosen as McCain’s vice president, supposedly to light a fire under his, then, dwindling campaign. She brought the fire, igniting the country at the Republican National Convention in St. Paul, MN, then the fire caught up to her as her inexperience blazed through as she wasn’t force fed answers in interviews and had to come up with her own. In a rally a few days ago, Palin made the big mistake of trying to quote former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright as saying “There’s a place in Hell for women who don’t support other women.” Palin used this to sway women voters to feel compelled to vote for her as an act for feminism, then she went on to joke about how the newspapers would twist her quote.
The actual quote was “There’s a place in Hell reserved for women who don’t help other women.”
“Though I am flattered that Governor Palin has chosen to cite me as a source of wisdom, what I said had nothing to do with politics,” Albright told the Huffington Post. “This is yet another example of McCain and Palin distorting the truth, and all the more reason to remember that this campaign is not about gender, it is about which candidate has an agenda that will improve the lives of all Americans, including women. The truth is, if you care about the status of women in our society and in our troubled economy, the best choice by far is Obama-Biden.”
The change McCain obviously hoped Palin would help to bring to his campaign has exploded in his face, with only blind conservative dogs left to follow them to the finish line, as the rest of the country sees a woman so unbelievably over her head, running behind a 72-year-old-man with health issues. That is extremely unsettling for voters. Whether they think Obama has enough experience to bring his change to Washington, America must fear the snowy blank-slate in Palin’s brain where political knowledge should be found. Being able to see Russia from your house does not give you any experience in foreign relations, McCain’s change would be a disaster.
My own experience with change has lead me to fear change, and also to hate it. My family’s move to Texas a decade ago ruined my idea of change. The grass has looked ungodly beautiful on the Minnesota side of the fence compared to Texas, I never wanted that change to come. But ten years later I’ve realized that I have made some of the best friends a guy could ask for in Texas, and by leaving Minnesota I was able to come back to Minnesota and start fresh for a summer, which is when I fell in love with a girl that I would probably have never met had I never left Minnesota. This way, the cards just fell into place. The idea of change is not so terrible for me anymore. Scary, yes, but I can handle it because I know that great things can come out of it that you never expected to find.
Change can be scary; the fear of the unknown, but it is far more frightening to know what you’re getting is already destined to be a nightmare. The Bush administration has failed time and time again, why do people think that a man that supported Bush 90 percent of the time will bring such a different outcome? Rather than sticking with the GOP as the country did in 2004, Americans should ignore McCain’s supposed change, with his ignorant vice president, and jump onto the Obama bandwagon. It’s time.