Waldo and the 2016 Presidential Election

The similarities between this year's presidential election and Waldo the Bear are uncanny. In the election, we have two options: one a very immoral man who says all the wrong things, and has little to no political experience. Besides the fact that he is in possession of an obscene amount of money, a good old fashioned success of the American Dream. On the other hand, we have a very accomplished, intelligent and well-known career politician who knows all the right people, but has made some mistakes that some people see as unforgivable. As Dr. J pointed out, there have only been two elections in 42 years in which neither a Clinton nor Bush were on the ballot.

The truth is, a lot of America, like the place in "Waldo," is sick and tired of letting career politicians run the country. It is hard to understand how these leaders make their decisions about us regular people, when in reality, their lives are completely different. These people are always in the spotlight...from campaigns, to government functions...to court trials (at least in the case of this election)...as "regular" people, it is hard to look on from the outside at these "perfect families" and feel like our Commander in Chief really has any idea of what we are struggling with, what we believe in, what we want to see happen, and overall what we want. 

A huge chunk of the country didn't vote. As we discussed in class, there wasn't really a "moral" candidate to vote for. Others showed up to vote, but voted for Harambe, which is again similar to Waldo. In voting for a character,  or a dead gorilla, it's an active way to protest vote, to show that people aren't happy with the way things are.

Both in real life and in "Waldo," the general public wants to see regular or common people in office. That's the change that the country is looking for. It makes it easier for us to think, 'I may see the change I want to because that guy is a little like me: he doesn't always say or do the right things, and he's kind of abrasive...but so am I, so that's okay.' In truth, that does not make saying vulgar things okay; it does not make it morally acceptable to do violating things, but it is not completely impossible to understand how Donald Trump won this election.