The Day the Music Died

The other night I was watching Barack Obama give a speech to a big crowd in Texas after he racked up a few more primary wins. I love listening to him speak. He just sucks me in and I marvel at his ability to capture a crowd. Of course everyone agrees he is a great inspirational speaker, but they criticize him -- as Hillary Clinton said recently -- for being "all hat and no cattle." (Sorry, Hill. You can't pull off that line.) In response to his critics, Barack began to get more specific about what he actually would do as president. As I listened to him speak, I could feel my stomach start to tighten up. A war we shouldn't have been in in the first place? Sitting down to talk with Syria and Iran? Universal healthcare? Reverse the Bush tax cuts? He mentioned one program after another without any reference to how we would pay for them. At that moment, I realized that I was a conservative and I didn't agree with anything this guy stands for. What a buzz kill. It's like a date I had with a woman one time where I realized half way through my dinner that she was a blatant racist. She looked good until she revealed her platform -- I should have learned.

Tonight I tried to tune in to see Hillary and Barack debate. I turned to CNN. Hillary looked out at the crowd and said she was going to freeze mortgage interest rates for five years. I turned the channel. These people can't be serious.