I want to believe

They say John Kerry is a master of debating skills. I believe it. I know he is, because watching the first presidential debate I actually found myself wanting to believe him, to trust him. He said some great things, and for a moment I actually believed that he might act on his promises.

And then I remembered the well-documented lies and U-turns that have made up his career, and I thought “No, you can’t believe him. I know you want to believe that he really thinks the Iraq war is wrong, I know you want to believe that he’ll pull us out of it…but dammit, that’s only been his clearly articulated position since last week.” Before that, of course, his position was that it was quite legitimate for the USA to invade a country that presented no threat to it, on the grounds that it might one day be a threat. Yes, Kerry felt it was a perfectly acceptable war—he just felt he’d have done a better job of it than Bush.

But that position failed to resonate with anyone who might actually vote for him, so like so many times in the past, Kerry slowly shifted to something more popular. Which is why I can’t let myself believe anything that comes out of his mouth; it’ll be as big a disappointment as Bill “NAFTA and no healthcare” Clinton.

Of course, I’d still have to hold my nose and vote for him, because Bush has been a colossal fuck-up on every level, is promising more of the same, and means it. I’ll take someone who might potentially do almost anything, over someone I know for sure will do the wrong thing. If you have to play Russian Roulette, play it with a revolver, not a shotgun.

But of course, that doesn’t mean I have to like it. Every time the DNC supporters accost me in the street, it’s all I can do to avoid subjecting them to a lengthy rant which wouldn’t do any good. And it doesn’t make any difference anyway, because there’s no democracy here, I can’t vote.