KIRO NIGHTS

2020 presidential choices resemble the menu at a new restaurant

Mar 6, 2019, 10:08 AM

presidential...

The Presidential candidates reminds Gee of a menu at a new restaurant. (Photo by Rich Polk/Getty Images for IMDb)

(Photo by Rich Polk/Getty Images for IMDb)

Has this ever happened to you?

A friend, or business contact suggests a restaurant you’ve never been to, and you find yourself staring at the menu for what seems like forever comparing items that you just aren’t that familiar with?

I have to admit, it happens to me more than I would like to admit it.

Seems like I  find myself having to look up on Google various cooking terms or ingredients that I have never heard of.  Or something sounds delicious, but I read that it comes with….wait…what?

That is almost exactly how I feel about this upcoming presidential election.

This may come as a complete shocker to many, but during the last election, I really didn’t know what I was hungry for.  I spent a great deal of time actually watching the candidates battle each other for my vote from, lets call it, BOTH “restaurants.” I really went into it with open eyes, open ears and more importantly – an open soul.  I knew what things appealed to my hunger and cravings – and was waiting for someone to serve me a dish of what I wanted, without unnecessary side garnish of things that I didn’t like or couldn’t stomach.

I watched as the “menu” of candidates slowly dwindled down and my choices grew fewer as time went by. I could look at one candidate and think “yes, yes, yes, and yes …, but wow, there’s no way I am craving that.”  It’s a feeling much like a person might get when they’re hungry, but shopping from an unfamiliar set of choices.

When it was all said and done, I feel like I was promised a real nice, juicy steak with all of my favorite fixings – and got served a cold bowl of soup without a spoon.

This year’s challengers to the “throne,” so far, are offering me more confusion than consolation as we inch closer to 2020.

One thing is clear, I know I am not “hungry” for what one restaurant is selling me, and it appears there’s only one choice at their fast food establishment.

From radical agendas to familiar faces that have previously run and lost, the opposition party has a chance  to win over a lot of people like me, who are ready to cast their vote for change, but are staring at the menu like that confused tourist who has never been to your favorite diner.

I also know that as we get closer to the big day in November of 2020, my choices, too, will dwindle down to whether I like things the way they are, or I settle for what other option I have.

I can’t help but wonder, if not unlike the last time, the choices presented to me will ultimately leave me hungry when it is all said and done.

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