impolitics
two political frenzies are taking place simultaneously. one is on the tip of the world community's tongues (obama, obama, obama). measured on the same scale, the other is like a drop in the ocean (malaysia? where's that?). but in their separate ways, both bespeak to me the poverty of politics: the smear campaigns, the sound-bites, the jab and jockey of shameless power struggles and one-upmanship, the impenitent and slavish media, the shiny promises whose fractures are plastered over with smiles, and everywhere the stench of corruption and money. is this really the only way we know how to elect our leaders? is this really the only form of politics that we can recognize, that is available to us -- or, worse yet, that we deserve?