I was having a conversation yesterday with my Dad. We were in his basement and he was milling the surface of a brake rotor. My Dad is always helping someone, and in this case he was trying to save another family member some money instead of leaving them at the mercy of one of the local shops. He asked for an update on my take on the election. I explained to him that the only remaining argument for voting for Barrack Obama was those two, maybe three, Supreme Court Justices that would be retiring in the coming years. With rock solid majorities for Democrats in both Houses of Congress all but assured, a McCain Presidency was nothing to fear in the way that a real third term for Bush would be.

I was over at my Dad’s because he and my step-mom were going to watch the kids so my wife and I could see Oliver Stone’s “W.” I’m no movie reviewer, but I thought the focus was off. The movie was all at once funny, too long, and badly edited. The praise really goes to the actors who make this picture worth watching. The character studies were amazingly done. It was the over all story arc, the way things got pieced together, that didn’t sit well with me. I don’t think Dubya ever had a moment of self realization like the one portrayed in this film. I also find the rehabilitation of Colin Powell attempted here, in conjunction with today’s endorsement of Barack Obama, suspicious. The examination of Bush the Elder and our current pResident’s relationship, however, was quite compelling.

Before I left to see the matinee, my Dad remarked on how much we saw things alike in the current situation. I had told him if there is one thing the last 8 years have taught us it was that truth has no place in America anymore. I’d come to the conclusion that there is only one measure in which this country decides to select a leader, and that is a candidates ability to shape perception, mold reality, regardless of the truth. Kind of like an Oliver Stone picture.