2012 so far

Well, it seems that the 2012 election has kicked off.

For now we can just ignore the calendar date. The fact that it’s the April before the general election doesn’t really mean much of anything when you’re running for president.

But what a race this promises to be.

Barack Obama has already pushed himself off to an early start by waking up all of his supporters at 6 a.m. with a text message declaring his candidacy.

Then they got a tweet, and I believe some Facebook updates. ­(These are, of course, all things I’ve heard secondhand, since I know better than to give my contact information to a politician.) So just in case you didn’t know he was running, he is.

Apparently the president is hoping to raise $1 billion for his campaign.

Which is great, I guess, because before long everyone in America will be inundated with election advertisements. Unfortunately this is no longer something I can avoid by turning off my cable, since by now even the Republicans have discovered the Internet.

So who exactly is Obama running against?

Well, no one at the moment.

The GOP has learned its lesson from 1996 (the last time it challenged a Democrat presidential incumbent) so the Republicans are cooling their heels and biding their time.

They don’t want to be impulsive about throwing one of their own into the public arena while they’re still plotting their budget blueprint.

Oh, have you not heard?

In a plan put forth by Rep. Paul D. Ryan, R-Wis., the GOP is looking to reform Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security to save more than $5 trillion in projected spending during the next decade.

It’s a lofty plan with ambitious and well-intentioned goals, except it does so at the expense of the sick and elderly. The plan would essentially turn health services into a voucher system.

And for Social Security, it’s clear they know they want to gut it — they just haven’t decided how yet.

So it’s understandable that the Republicans would be hesitant to jump into the fray so soon.

It’s a wise choice actually to let the dust settle down with the budget before making any hasty decisions. 

And honestly, who wants to be president anyway?
 
You’re just going to be relentlessly ridiculed for every choice that you make.
Even if it’s the decision to run for president when you already hold the title — like Obama did.

It only took the Reince Priebus one morning to criticize the president for, er, running for president.

Oh election season, it is so good to have you back.

­— danfleis@indiana.edu