The Student News Site of Westfield High School

Hi's Eye

The Student News Site of Westfield High School

Hi's Eye

The Student News Site of Westfield High School

Hi's Eye

Wavering Politics

by Emma Polini

​It was October 18: there I was, sitting on my couch, forgoing America’s Next Top Model reruns in order to provide myself with a little enlightenment. I had tuned into CNN to view the Republican presidential debate and formulate some presidential predictions, as well as stare at moderator Anderson Cooper.

Commentary

​Halfway through the debate, I prematurely changed the channel. My family has already passed through the living room and noted my intellectual superiority attributed to my television choice, and besides, I had already decided who would be running against Obama the following November. I had divided the candidates into a list. The intolerable choices were Rick Santorum, Mitt Romney, and Michelle Bachman, though only Romney stood a chance of being nominated. The tolerable choices were Ron Paul, Rick Perry, and Herman Cain, but only Perry had a shot at prevailing. That left the race down to Romney and Perry, and clearly my favorite of the two was going to win. And what about old Newt Gingrich? I gave him one of my special labels: irrelevant.
I woke up the next day confident that my predictions were airtight. Perry was sure to be the Republican Candidate, so there really wasn’t a point to debating anymore. I forgot to skim through The New York Times after school, because I was tied up at the hair salon (color correction is brutal), but I thought nothing of it. It wasn’t until I tuned into CNN the next night that I realized something wasn’t feeling right. Why weren’t they talking about Perry? His popularity had plummeted faster than Chris Brown’s circa 2009.

I held onto hope, but as the days bled into weeks, Perry’s media coverage all but vanished. I decided that we both didn’t have to be on the losing team, so I cast my loyalties aside and quickly joined Team Cain. Munching on slices of Godfather’s pizza, I spent days custom ordering personalized Team Cain gear: sweatpants, t-shirts, bumper stickers, the whole works. Shipping was estimated to take a few weeks, but it was definitely worth it.

Gleefully, I campaigned for Cain, until I was struck with a bad cold. Too sick to even use my iPhone, I was forced to forgo several days of political updates. But on the sixth day of being ill, my mother announced that a box had arrived in my name. My political gear!

Miraculously cured by the arrival of my new clothing, I pulled myself out of bed and got dressed for school. My outfit bore exactly seventeen images of Cain’s face, which ran above the words YOUR FUTURE, AMERICA. Proudly, I marched into school, knowing that my politically-chic ensemble was sure to win me a best dressed nomination on Fashion Police.

I was brimming with confidence, but as I strolled into first period, something started to feel wrong. I was met with quizzical stares and even a few snickers. Figuring it was jealously, I ignored the looks and continued through my morning. It wasn’t until a hipster in the hallways complemented me on my “irony” that I realized something was seriously wrong. Pulling out my phone, I nervously opened my New York Times app. There it was on the front page, my worst fear realized: Herman Cain had announced the suspension of his campaign.

Following the discovery, I abandoned my attempts at forecasting politics and sunk into a gloom. John Huntsman was suddenly one of the contenders. Gingrich shed his irrelevancy, received some recognition, then was shut down by Romney. I slept through Christmas break and woke up to find Santorum was one of the top contenders. It was all too overwhelming. Is a little stability really too much to ask for? Predicting politics has become synonymous with predicting the winning Lotto numbers.

I tried to ignore the remaining candidates, but the temptation struck me once again. Prior to the Iowa Caucus, I nervously attached myself to the computer, feverishly scorning blogs and news cites, devouring any caucus related coverage. After hours of obsessing, I finally decided to put myself out of my misery and go to bed early, figuring I’d wait until morning to see who had won.

But when I woke up, I was struck with a new realization: I was a Democrat.   So who cares that Perry dropped out or that they recounted the Iowa caucus and Santorum came away with the win? My vote’s with Obama.

Leave a Comment

Comments (0)

All Hi's Eye Picks Reader Picks Sort: Newest

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *