Revulsion of Cliches

Most all of us are already sick of it, I should imagine. Shortly, we may have no choice but to either go numb to it or turn away from it. Of course, I speak of "Change." Obama started it with the "Change We Can Believe In" slogan and--with his popularity--now has every other candidate talking about it as if it were their campaign slogan from the beginning. Even Romney, the pre-packaged, GOP machine candidate-with-handlebars-in-a-handsome-carrying-case is calling himself an agent of change. Blech.

I'm not so sure any of us want change so much as better. Candidates are rapidly making the term of "change" meaningless anyhow by talking about it as if it's synonymous with "cool" or "the best." It reminds me of an executive in my former company that had us read a ridiculous self-help book that made the mind-bending suggestion that one needs to "think outside the box" [GASP] and offered a system in how to do so. Naturally, the same executive didn't see the obvious irony of following a system that keeps one from following a system. Similarly, Romney, Clinton, and Edwards don't see how following the leader shows their lack of leadership (note how McCain has largely stayed away from this, btw).

Interestingly, however, with candidates in both parties trying to wave the Change banner, it reveals what may well be Ws greatest legacy--a complete dismantling of the two party's power structures and a re-writing of their platforms. For his administration has been so awful, odious, and destructive--and the Ds have been so pusillanimous, disarrayed, and impotent in their opposition--that millions of Americans are saying give me anything better than this. Anything. I'm hopeful we will get it.