Zombie is too kind a word to describe the catatonic state of mind of America. I’m talking about the interior state of its intellect, obviously. Because the mouth and the eyes and the jangly arms and legs, and the hyper-extended eyebrows, are all still popping and bopping like Micheal Jackson Thriller dancers on crack.

I think I’ve seen one too many campaign ads.

What does it say about our candidates that they “approve” the ads that ridicule and defame and outright lie about their opposition? What does it say about voters that the candidates think we will actually be swayed by negative campaigns?

I truly don’t believe the campaigns would spend the millions on negative ads if they didn’t have some proof that those ads yield results in terms of votes.

And then, if I believe that, then I have to believe that Americans are as dumb as posts. That Americans are truly too lazy to do their own fact-checking, too profoundly defective to think for themselves.

And as truly scary as most of our political choices are right now, what’s even scarier are the people who are saying they won’t go vote on Tuesday.

I’ve never felt so heartsick about my country as I do right now.

Two wars. Men and women in combat still dying. Fucking dying, folks. While we sit stateside with our probably petroleum-based Halloween costumes and our Starbucks coffee cups. Economy still crumbling. People still moving from house to street. Still scrambling for work.

And yet, people will stay home on Tuesday, or they’ll have a couple of beers, or they’ll watch television, or they’ll be too tired. Or they’ll rail against Obama not having done enough, and they’ll decide it’s not even worth voting because, wah, wah, wah, , “Obama hasn’t changed a damn thing”, and it would take them all too long to get their heads out of their asses and go vote.

If I sound angry, I am.

And would-be politicians are in a literal la-la-land of he said/she said. And people like Jon Stewart are calling our President “dude.” And people like our President are being forced to defend themselves for believing in, articulating, promoting, and inspiring a desire for change.

Who are those people who really thought the president, any president, could or would be able to reverse an economic depression, end two wars, dissolve racial tensions with the wave of a hand, institute health care, and never raise taxes, and oh, yeah, get everybody on both sides to work together — all in less than two years? Petulant little pussies, that’s who.

If I sound angry, I am.

Of course we want change. Of course we voted for change. But are we so intellectually incapacitated that we cannot grasp the reality that change at the level at which Obama hyped it — would take years, if not decades? Did Obama use rhetoric to get elected? Of course. Did we elect a man, not a magician? Do we not understand that politicians talk a walk they’ll never be able to walk? Of course.

Just like so many of us talk a ridiculous walk when we promise to love and cherish and never ever cheat on or hurt our spouse. Um, and something like 100% of us never live up to those promises. C’mon, America. Grow a pair and quit acting like Obama’s the prom king who got the prom queen pregnant. She was already in labor by the time he got to her.

Is it really rational to think that Obama isn’t doing his best to lead this country out of war, out of economic crisis, out of unemployment? Seriously, do we think he wants this to be his legacy?

I voted for Obama and I’d do it again in a heartbeat. I’m proud he is my president. Doesn’t mean I like everything he says or does — doesn’t mean I don’t wish he would stop with the speechifying. Doesn’t mean I wish more change wasn’t happening more quickly.

You might want to read a review of Obama’s presidency from Rolling Stone Magazine — it’s got the bad, the ugly, and oh, yeah, the good.

And what’s making me sick this afternoon — only second to the bullshit politicians who are mucking about in the mud — are the people — some of whom I’ve called friends — who are distancing themselves from Obama because they don’t want to be linked with “ObamaCare” or called an “Obama Liberal”. Like Obama is a dirty word.

Fuck that noise.

If I sound angry, I am.