Priorities

As Elizabeth and I watched election coverage on Tuesday I saw an interview that, for some reason, is still in my mind. A local reporter was interviewing a newly-elected democratic member of the US House of Representatives, who was excited to talk about the democratic majority that congress would enjoy in both houses, and of course, the White House. At one point she said something very similar to this (I obviously don't have a word-for-word transcript): "Well, our number one priority will be getting our economy going strong again, and creating jobs for people, and finding new sources for renewable energy, and bringing our troops home from Iraq, and getting people the health care they need."

Someone needs to tell this US CONGRESSWOMAN that you can't have FIVE number one priorities. By definition, that's impossible. That's roughly similar to me saying, "Well, my favorite team in the NFL is the Cowboys, and the Packers, and the Colts, and everyone in the AFC West except the Raiders."

Now, I understand that many, if not most, voters are significantly uninformed about their choices, especially on any race that's not the US Presidency. I will freely admit that I voted straight-ticket republican -- not because I knew about all of those candidates, but largely because I didn't want the democrats to have a huge majority in Washington. So, I would feel the same way if my republican choice said something really stupid on television the night he was elected. But hearing this particular interview made me wonder, who voted for this woman? What might be even more disturbing, however, was that I got the feeling that no one else seemed to think there was a problem with her having five number one priorities. Maybe they can't count to one either.