I try not to discuss politics with patients, unless I'm sure they're on the same page as I am. But yesterday I got sucked in. A patient started off discussing the bad economy and this financial crisis we're dealing with, and I got the wrong signal. She then, point blank, asked me who I was voting for. I processed the discussion we had already had, and figured her for being dissatisfied with the way things are right now, and therefore likely to be an Obama supporter.

Still, I answered ambiguously, saying that I hadn't made up my mind completely yet (though I have), and her reaction was like another patient's when I said that - sort of like, "how can you not know who to support in this election?" So, thinking she was an Obama supporter, I admitted that I was leaning toward the junior senator from Illinois.

Well, THAT was the wrong way to go. She started giving me all the talking points from Fox News, and how Obama was a crook and associated with terrorists and la de da, more stuff. Now she's the customer here, and the customer is always "right" (even when they're not), so I wasn't saying too much, but finally I said, "Einstein defined insanity as doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results, and electing John McCain appears to me to be electing George Bush for 4 more years, basically."

Well, of course, she didn't agree with that - in her mind, McCain is different, but then she said, Bush wasn't so bad. I just laughed. I didn't mean to, but I did. So she started telling me stuff about this situation being the Dem's fault, and Biden putting a 55 million dollar pork project (that was stripped out, apparently) in the recent bailout bill. I don't know what it was, but I'm sure Fox News has had it on their programs plenty.

I said, "Well, this MESS we're in right now didn't start in the last two years. It's been building up for a long time. And the Republicans have controlled the House, Senate, and the White House for 6 of the last 8 years. I blame it mostly on them." I followed this with "The biggest reason we're in this mess is because we're in Iraq. We should not have been there, and I've been saying it since DAY 1." I have. I remember being in Arizona when they started the war, and I was praying that they didn't do it. But of course they did.

I told her that it's a war that's run our country's economy into the ground. She countered with "the people over there, according to my nephew who was in Afghanistan, want us there, they're happy about it. And they're making progress, and they'll be turning it over to the Iraqis soon."

I said, "Not soon enough. Of course they can't just pull up stakes and bring everyone home NOW. We created a mess, and now we have to take responsibility for cleaning it up." I believe that. There can be no wholesale pullout, and I've heard Obama say the same thing.

Not to mention that I have relatives (in-laws) in that part of the world (Iran, not Iraq), but I suspect I know a bit more about how the people of that area really feel about the American presence.

Then of course, we got into the "Obama's a socialist and will turn us into a socialist country" thing. I sort of feel that this is already happening, as we're buying banks now. Is it the same thing as nationalizing them? I don't know...but it's close. And REPUBLICANS and DEMOCRATS voted for it, including McCain.

I want to believe in capitalism. I want to believe that our kids can do better than we did. I did better than my folks, and they did better than theirs. I don't believe that in a socialist or communist country there's so much incentive for them to do better. And what is "better"? But the brand of capitalism we've been exposed to for the last 8 years isn't something that works for anyone but the richest people. I'm not one of them. I'm struggling a bit, just like everyone else.

Anyway, I learned a lesson. Let them tell me first who they are supporting. Then keep my mouth shut if it isn't my view.

But it was interesting. I look at Obama and I see an intelligent man who knows history, who understands that there are two sides to every issue, and who can think, both on his feet and just in general. Someone else sees him and they see a crook and a Robin Hood. I watched the debate last night and saw a composed individual who had well thought out positions and intelligent answers for most everything. Someone else saw a guy who associates with a "terrorist" and who wants to tax them into oblivion.

That last one cracks me up. These people who are concerned about taxes are probably the ones who least need to worry about it, because they're probably at or below the threshold of 250K in income. Yet they're worried about raising the taxes on the "rich", like that means THEM! (shrug) What can you do? People see what they expect to see, and they expect to see it because they are told that's what they're looking at, sometimes...