Political Baseball

I follow politics, in the same way some people follow American Idol or other crappy reality TV shows. I'm a numbers guy, checking Pollster.com and Intrade regularly to see where things stand. I hit some blogs, watch the Daily Show and Colbert first thing in the morning (damn cheapskate roommates who won't pay for cable!). I'm not a total junkie, but I'm pretty up to speed on the happenings of election season.

As a nation, we love "gaffes" by politicians: "Oh my goodness, so and so said something which was slightly wrong or misunderstood! Gaffe Gaffe! They are an idiot, unfit to serve in office or even breathe the same air as the rest of us Perfect Patriotic Americans". Of course, the reason we love gaffes so much is because that's pretty much all the news media ever reports on, but you take what you get. Besides gaffes, we love when candidates "flip flop", showing just how evil and untrustworthy they are.

The World Series is upon us, and with it comes an opportunity to pander. This year the Tampa Bay Rays are taking on the Philidelphia Phillies. Both teams are located in key swing states, so its only natural that the Presidential candidates should swing by and mention their success in their stump speeches. Just as natural is the overreaction to this harmless pandering.

First, Barack Obama, a known White Sox fan, told supporters in Philly that he would be rooting for the Phils in the Fall Classic. Later, in Florida, Obama praised the Rays and said he was "showing them some love".

Not to be outdone, Sarah Palin spoke to supporters in Pennsylvania, Florida and Massachusettes and took the oppourtunity to mention the local Baseball teams. In each place, she made the statment that "The (insert local team here) know something about turning an underdog into a champion". It was actually a clever line by political standards.

The reaction was swift from both sides, with McCain calling Obama out for flip-flopping on his all important World Series pick, and Democrats firing back with Palin's rare triple play of pandering. As a sports fan and follower of politics, I couldn't be more outraged. At the reaction, that is, not at Obama and Palin.

People, these aren't gaffes, and they don't really count as shameless pandering. "Rooting" for a team and "showing love" to a team are two different things. You can Root for one team and simultaneously show love to its opponent. This is especially true when you don't really have a passion for or against either team, as is the case with Senator Obama.

Similarly, in Governor Palin's case, her statements are able to coexist without any problem. She never said she was rooting for or against any team, she was merely stating the fact that these teams "know how to turn underdogs into winners", which is actually true in all three cases. The Red Sox won the World Series after being down 3-0 and 3-1 in two different ALCSes. The Phillies swiped the division title last year from the Mets despite a huge late in the year deficit. And the Rays making the World Series after so many years of suckitude is like something out of a cheesy sports movies.

Please people, lets keep the phony outrage for something important. Like how William Ayers introduced Barack Obama to Osama Bin Laden at one of Fidel Castro's lawn parties.