Sometimes the best endorsement is to shut up

By TODD M. BUTKOVICH

Guest Columnist


If you support a candidate in the ongoing presidential election, do one simple thing: vote for them.


That’s it, just vote. Don’t campaign. Don’t promote them to others. Don’t even say their name. Just shut up and vote.


Don’t just do it for me, do it for your candidate.


First, consider the recent stepping down of Hillary Clinton campaign staffer Geraldine Ferraro, the 1984 Democratic party’s vice presidential nominee, following comments she made about Clinton’s competition on the Democratic side, Barack Obama. Ferraro said Obama was only in his position as likely nominee because he’s lucky enough to be black.


Ferraro’s exit from the campaign means she won’t be around to tell us how lucky John McCain was to be held captive for five years in a Vietnamese prison/torture camp.


And, speaking of Senator McCain, he recently had to distance himself from his own overzealous supporter, Ohio radio personality Bill Cunningham after Cunningham repeatedly referred to Obama by emphasizing his middle name, “Hussein.”


As a fellow member of the “Really Unfortunate Middle Name Club” (the M. stands for “Mussolini”), I was highly offended by Cunningham’s remarks and applaud McCain’s decision. We didn’t choose to have these terrible middle names and would appreciate it if we were treated just like everyone else. My close friends Robert Hitler Davidson, Leo Qaddafi Rodriguez, and Alex W. Bush Cherup all agree with me on this one.


Of course, Obama is in enough trouble with his own supporters to be dealing with his middle name. First, there was Samantha Power, who resigned from her post as foreign policy advisor, after publicly calling Clinton a “monster.”


Apparently this move cost Power’s boss the crucial vampire vote, as creatures of the night found the use of this terminology demeaning. 


With the population of Pennsylvania being nearly 40 percent vampire, this was a crushing blow — the final nail in the coffin — to Obama’s chance of winning the last major primary.


But Power is really the least of Obama’s problems this week, as the news media has been focused on comments made by Obama’s friend and former pastor, Jeremiah Wright.


Like many religious leaders, Wright chose to augment his sermons by preaching on social issues in modern society. This included addressing the plight of urban black populations due to crime and drugs and how little is being done to rectify the problem.


Wright also spoke on the global issue of AIDS … and how he thinks the government invented it. 


Immediately, Obama took to the airwaves for some effective damage control in a speech regarding the racial divide in America and how people, both white and black, continue to facilitate it. That’s all good, but Obama failed to address the real issue: the divide between the sane and the insane.


Of course none of this really matters any more than if Obama had an anti-Semitic dentist, or if McCain was endorsed by the American Association of Tinfoil Hat-Wearers, or even if it came out that Hillary Clinton’s husband is kind of a pervert (hypothetically).  


But to some people, seeing a candidate’s name mentioned near that of a racist, a crazy person, or an anti-monsterite is enough to turn them off that candidate.  


So, even though you think your endorsement is helping, it’s probably not, whether you’re an influential radio host or just some guy sitting in my 3:30 class.


But, for those on the other side of the most recent implosion, it can be a lot of fun to watch a well-meaning supporter sink a billion-dollar campaign with one remark.  


And it doesn’t look like it will end soon.


After all, Kwame still hasn’t announced his endorsement yet.