Thoughts on who will be our next president.

The next election cycle at the federal level, which is supposed to start in 2016, seems to be here in an over abundance.

There appears to be about 18 different major Republicans who have either announced or are intending to announce for president.

The number of Democrats fitting in that category appears to be 4 or perhaps 5.

I get that. There’s little doubt that when a Democrat of some substance begins to ponder the possibilities concerning a presidential run, it doesn’t that all take long for the Establishment to sit down and have a little chat with them to set them straight.

Just as a brief aside, I’m fascinated by watching Democrat former Gov. Martin O’Malley position himself on the Democrat side.

It’s like a basketball game, in that Hillary’s leading the “fast-break” and O’Malley’s trailing behind her to get the rebound when she bricks the shot.

O’Malley has certain “Scott Brown” characteristics that match up very well with HillBill.

This morning in the Baltimore Sun for example there was a column which, “homer” element aside, made some relatively good points in that regard.

Mr. O'Malley, unlike Hillary Clinton and Jeb Bush, isn't linked to perpetual scandal and criticism, nor is he beholden to foreign donors, investment banks or a family surname. He rightfully stated that the presidency isn't "some crown to be passed between two families" and compared to Ms. Clinton, Mr. O'Malley offers a genuinely progressive outlook on American politics. When both candidates are analyzed, it's apparent that one caters to poll-driven centrism while the other is far more confident in a progressive vision for America.

While the so-called “progressive vision” for America is a never ending train wreck of a nightmare… for the Democrats, someone beside Clinton is their only chance.

Given the bonfire the Democrats have made of the Constitution, their slavish devotion to idiocy like Obamacare, their completely screwed up foreign-policy debacles, the weakness of our military, the entire lack of border security, their amnesty program for illegal aliens fetish, the nuclear explosion of trillions in debt… I don’t believe the Democrats would be able to win if they ran Abraham Lincoln.

But the O’Malley issue ties in very neatly with the subject of this particular post… Which is: who will be the next President of the United States.

If you’re looking for a name… I don’t have that. I have a favorite someone I would like to be president… But I’m not particularly wild about any of these people. (My guy, for what it’s worth, happens to be Scott Walker.)

I have a much better feel for who is likely not to be our next president.

At this point, nobody really knows who will win. Some candidates are stronger than others. Some candidates obviously have no chance. Some candidates have baggage we don’t know anything about, but are likely to find out about before we actually arrive at our destination.

No, today’s issue is the “how” of it.

As a nation, we’ve long since ceased being the people of thinkers. Marketers manipulate us all the time.

They ceaselessly probe, analyze, and look for that magic emotional tie that will get us to open our wallets…. or fork over our votes.

And that’s the secret. The “emotional” tie.

It, for example, is what makes a “Mainstream Republican” (if there is such a thing) a mainstream Republican. There are people who react emotionally to events before they react politically, strategically, and certainly fiscally.

To that end, I believe that the campaign which will win the presidency will be the one with the best marketing.

“Marketing” will trump substance.  We stopped thinking when it comes to politics... and toilet paper and burgers and everything else imaginable.

It’s not a recent phenomenon: it was certainly in play when the American voter accepted the fraudulence that is Barack Obama.

Even many of the most hard-core leftists among us recognize that Obama’s tenure has been a disaster and many of them have come so far to admit that it will take decades to climb out of the hole that he’s attempted to bury us in.

In perhaps the understatement of the century, senior CBS correspondent Bob Schieffer, who, with the vast majority of the leftist media did everything they could to get this clown elected, went so far as to admit the following stunning understatement:

“Maybe we were not skeptical enough.”

Gee.  Ya think?

Perception is what got Obama elected. It didn’t matter whether the perception was true or false, what mattered is that in politics, the perception is the reality.

And perception is what marketing is all about.

Ultimately, the equation of marketing competence = perception = outcome.

The first casualty of this war’s going to be truth. Our current president is proven at the national level and many politicians here locally have buttressed this reality, the truth is a meaningless construct.

After all, we live in a state where the Supreme Court has indicated that it’s perfectly okay to lie in a political campaign. 

At least they admit it.

I’m thinking about buying a car. My criterion for buying this car is likely to be different from the criterion of someone else reading this.

As I approach my 60th year on this planet, I’ve worked very hard, done a lot, learned a lot, suffered a little bit, won some, lost some.

What I’ve yet to do is buy a new car.

So I am looking in the medium-term to get one. It will be the only new car I’ll ever buy… If I ever get to the point where I can buy it.

The particular car I’m looking at buying is a Challenger Hellcat.

Looked a lot like this, but was definitely NOT an R/T model.

I’ve always been a fan of the V8 Challengers. I owned one once… it was a really great car… a 71 if memory serves. I really liked it.  Wasn't anything spectacular in the hot rod era; it was a 318, had a torqueflight… it was purple (Plum Crazy) with the white vinyl roof.

I own a big block 69 Camaro, and an 85 Camaro specifically set up for drag racing. So I've already got the means to get my speed Jones taken care of.

But I want a Hellcat. And I want one for two main reasons: first, it is the most powerful mass-produced car in the United States that I cannot remotely come close to affording. The MSRP on this car is $59995.

Second, it comes with a 707 hp engine. No other American manufacturer comes close in this price range that I am aware of.

2015 Dodge Challenger Hellcat

I also believe that they will be collector’s items... And down the road, will take their place alongside first-generation Camaros as among the most recognized collectible cars of American manufacture in the country.

But the reality… and I readily admit to this, is that I do not “need” a 707 hp two-door race car for the street.  I want one. And that is the crux of the matter.

As a drag racer… maybe an ex-drag racer, I feel emotionally compelled to get one.

Part of that is the fact that it will do a quarter-mile in 10½ seconds directly out-of-the-box. 

10½ seconds is about the entire length of my attention span.

What does this have to do with presidential politics?

I had no idea this car existed until boom, there it was.

I was smitten immediately. The emotional tie was instant.  It is certainly what Chrysler wanted to achieve with this vehicle.  The wife has owned two Chrysler 300’s including our current hemi.  Exceptional cars, those, and that’s helped.

The hook is set. Now it’s just a matter reeling me in.

And this campaign is likely not to be any different than that. What the candidates are striving for is the hook that will reel you in. 

It was the hook that Obama used to real people in. Not by telling them the truth… But by telling them what they wanted to hear, counting on that basic voter stupidity that all candidates count on but Obamacare architect Jonathan Gruber was vilified for admitting to.

As I look around our local political scene for example, one can see almost countless examples of voter stupidity… Of voters being lied to… And of those same voters turning around and voting for the clown they voted for who lied to them.

At the top, Barack Obama’s the biggest liar that’s ever sat in the White House… Or, perhaps, just the worst… Because his lies are so obvious.

Local liars have certainly included the mayor of the Vancouver Soviet, Tim “The Liar” Leavitt;  County Clerk Scott Weber; former democrat commissioners Steve Stewart and Marc Boldt and the like. All lied… All were reelected (Well, until Boldt lost)… Why?

And that’s the thing, you see. Marketing got these guys (And women.  Wouldn't want to be accused of sexism or anything like that) reelected. Marketing will get the next guys elected and reelected. 

Marketing will get the next president elected.

Not truth.

Not substance.

Not vision.

Not honesty, integrity, courage, or strength.

Marketing. It’s what keeps our Congresswoman in office, considering she simply has not done a damn thing since she came back here in 2007. The stupid voters of Gruber’s vision dutifully line up and keep that simple idiot in office, wasting a seat that could be used by a true representative of the people.

Imagine how great this country would be if those filling out the ballots actually had a clue as to what the hell they were doing… instead of what they've been trained to be feeling?