Oldgirl's Gazillion thoughts on the Election and Conversations with Grandma (Part I)

Is it just me, or is anyone else out there getting really tired of this election business?

I mean, I watch the major cable news channels, and lately I've had to turn it off, and go find something useful to do. Too much WHINING. Don't these people (newscasters/commentators/ analysts) have anything else to do? I mean, I realize it's their job to "worry" about the election?

But dodging Bosnia sniper fire? Reverend Wright?

Waaay too much going on. Waaay too much to keep up with.

Can somebody talk about some isshas here? Is that too much to ask?

I mean, I feel like this: Billary gonna get the Democratic nomination by any means necessary. She and Bill are doing some "behind the curtain" ish right now, as we speak. Oldgirl pulling some serious tricks out of her bag. I can't wait to see how they explain how they stole the nomination.

I was crying when Obama mentioned in a speech and broke down how Billary was trying to pull the "okey-doke".

LOL!

I thought I was bootleg.

No, Billary is the Queen of Bootleg.

Why? Because... I think it's just politics as usual. Politics is politics, man.

I'd never be a good politician. I have absolutely NO tact. None. It's all about saying exactly what people want to hear. I don't like to do that, and I think it works for only so long?

I couldn't be Barack Obama right now. Because I would've grabbed the microphone and told EVERYBODY :

"Yo... what's up ya'll? How ya doing, how ya feel!? Look, check it out--- Kiss my a$$!"

*Ladylee drops the microphone, holds hands in the air, walks off stage, and promptly drops out of the race*

Gotta be a special person to run for election. I mean, you have to have an undying passion for that. This is why Obama stays in the race. This is why Billary bootlegging it like crazy. PASSION, baby!!! I would DIE if people were all up in my business, researching my friendships and past relationships, past decisions, and where I went to church. I would loose my freaking mind!

And what's up with the Reverend J. Wright business? Hmm. Am I the only one who has come across black folk that feel the same way he does? And Obama was suppose to pull his pastor to the side and correct him, they are saying.

Are you serious?? Would you run up on someone who survived the civil rights movement, has had to drink out of the colored peoples water fountain and correct them on how they feel about white people?

My craziest and most confusing memory of my Grandfather: Every single time I complained about my college classes, I had to hear "Your grandmama didn't get on her knees and scrub white people floors so you can sit up here complaining!!! She made $3 a day, working three days a week. BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAAAAAAH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

I wanted to tell him, "Yo, grandma wasn't thinking about me in 1940-something when she was on her knees scrubbing white folks floors."

But I knew I'd get whipped if I said such a thing. And Obama's not running up on his pastor correcting him about anything. You say what you have to say in your head, and keep it moving.

To this day, when I get to complaining too hard... I think about how Grandma got on her knees and scrubbed white people's floors for $3 dollars a day. Somehow, I straighten my back and shut the heck up.

And that thing about the HIV virus being planted in the black community... that's old. I know a BUNCH of people who think that. I remember even hearing one of the major black film stars, whose a darling of mainstream, say the same thing a few years ago in an interview in a black magazine. (Bet he's hoping no one pulls that up! White people LOVE him. He better not run for president! LOL!).

But have you heard the new scare? The one about the new cervical cancer vaccine?

"I'm not giving my daughter that shot, because they are trying to make little black girls sterile so they can't have babies."

What???? Wow. I've actually heard that. I would've never thought about that at all. Who thought of that? And I've heard this from different women. Wow. And I hate to say it, but it scares the hell out of me each time I've heard it. Goodness.

Anybody remember a little thing called the Tuskeegee experiment? Personally, I think that's why black people think the way we do about such things. "If it happened once, don't think it can't happen again." If I hear that one more time, I'm gonna scream.

The thing is I know PLENTY of black folk who think like this. I have my own hangups. My worst one is that I don't like buying gas in the hood. The rumor has always been that they send the crappiest gas to the black areas. Took me years to get over this, and I still think about this whenever I pump gas in my neighborhood. Geez. And when I am out in the white suburbs, I feel up my tank with gas.

Yeah, I have hangups. You who don't... feel free to cast the first stone.

I think I understand the process of what's going on.

Drop a seed (words).

Dropped seed grows. It spreads like wild fire. It incites fear.

Fear is an incredible emotion... causes one to think and believe and do all kinds of things.

Hmm... Yeah, I think that's it.

It's a wonder we even choose to leave the house everyday, ya'll.

*Ladylee snatches up pom-poms and shakes them with much vigor*

Less fear. MORE FAITH.
MORE FAITH. Less fear.

Enough said.

*LadyLee throws pom-poms to the floor*

Anyway, Me and my grandma were talking about this. I go hang out with Grandma a couple of times a month, just to sit back and shoot the breeze and what-not. I go over after work somedays and we watch a little Oprah. Oh joy. (I'm not the biggest Oprah fan.)

But we got into a conversation about the election. I asked if she'd been following it, and she said yes.

"So Mama [that's what I call her], did you ever think you would see the day where a black man could had a darn good chance to become president?"
*Grandma thinks about it for a minute*
"No. Not in my lifetime."
"I don't know about that Hillary," I said. "Something just ain't right about that chick."
"I'm just confused, Lisa," Grandma said. "Is she gonna be the president or is Bill Clinton gonna be the president?" "I don't know. Look like they trying to do some bootleg or something. It all look shady to me."
Grandma leans forward and squints a little. "And didn't he have that girl all back up in the Oval office."
"Who?"
Grandma nods. "That Bill Clinton. Didn't he have that young girl all back up in the Oval office?"
It takes me a minute to realize that she's talking about Bill Clinton and Monica Lewinsky. "Sure did."
*Grandma leans back in her chair, and grumbles about Bill "having that girl all hemmed up in that Oval office*

Man, I wanted to scream. That ish was funny. I am so shocked that she remembered that. And the look on her face when she was talking about it.
You had to be there.

I don't know who Grandma is voting for. Didn't ask. I hate the fact that she's even thinking about that, or that she's confused (as most of us are) as to what is going on with the election. I wish she was clear on the issues.

Instead of having to hear about sniper fire and reverends and such.

I just know she don't approve of funny business going on all up in the Oval Office, and doesn't want to hear of it happening again. Ever.

And I'm glad she's not down on her knees scrubbing anyone's floors.

Glad of that.