The Pendulum
OPINION
Thursday, February 26, 2004 • Page 5
This weekly column will entertain you with questions
from the minds of actual Elon students. Do not fear
the subject matter of the questions.
THE GURU
“Dear Guru - There is this guy who
really likes me. He’s a great guy, but
I don’t feel anything for him besides
friendship. I don’t want to hurt his
feelings, but I just can’t make myself
like him. What should I do?”
Nader joins race for president to
gain exposure, shake things up
He’s running to ruffle the Democrats’ feathers, not sink
their ship. It’s no coincidence Nader picked now as the
time to enter the presidential race.
Going to school at Elon, or any
other university where the sex ratio
is unfairly proportioned for females,
can make it extremely difficult to
pass up on any interested guy. But
just because he likes you doesn’t
automatically mean you have to like
him.
It's as simple as a mouse. A com
puter mouse, that is.
What you need is a double click.
Now, you are probably sitting
there thinking that I have complete
ly lost my mind. Either that, or I
have gained some obscene interest
in computers. But fear not, this is a
valid theory.
Think about when you are trying
to open up a file on your computer.
You can click that stupid little icon a
million times, but if your click isn’t
a double click, then your singular
attempts could last for hours. The
same goes for relationships. Unless
it is a double click, a relationship
just won’t open.
A lot of times women (and men)
feel a certain need to settle for what
ever is lying around. In those cases,
it is more of a fear of being alone
than a true sense of fondness that
creates a relationship.
Please don’t fall into the habit of
becoming one of those girls who
just always has to have a boyfnend.
You know the kind of girl I am talk
ing about. She seems to acquire a
brand-new man every month.
But if you really think about it,
she is always getting a new
boyfriend because she probably
never liked the first one.
For her, and for many other girls
out there, it seems easier to settle for
a man and gain the title of girl
friend” than to face being single. Of
course, after a month she is so
annoyed with the poor man she has
to let him go and find another.
Right, because the next one is
going to work out so much better.
A dear friend of mine was once
in a very similar situation with a cer
tain golfer. But rather than tell the
guy her true feelings, she attempted
to make the best of it.
Well, the “best of it” ended with
her getting annoyed with his
“clinginess” and telling the poor
boy to shove his putter up his ...
Well, let’s just say it wasn’t his golf
bag.
Not only is it unfair for you to
settle, it’s also hurting the other per
son involved. To get yourself into a
situation — or even to prolong the
inevitable — is unfair to that person;
for if he likes you now, he will prob
ably like you even more later on.
It may be scary to let him go and
wait for someone else to come
along. But you know the saying;
Good things come to those who
wait
Tell him the truth. Explain that
while he is a great guy, he just isn’t
the guy for you. He will eventually
understand, and in the long run he
will probably thank you.
And let me tell you, there is noth
ing better than a double click after a
long series of attempts.
Trust me on this one.
Send questions
W to the 'GURU' at
^ ^ elonguru@yahoo.com
Steve Earley
Copy Editor
After one-time Democratic
front-runner Howard
Dean's announcement to
end his White House bid Feb. 18,
the Democrats were sitting pretty.
Just under a month after the
Iowa caucuses, a once comi
cally large field of nine
Democratic hopefuls had
dwindled dovra to four, with
Massachusetts Sen. John
Keny and North Carolina
Sen. John Edwards being the
only real contenders.
The party's intentionally fast-
paced primary schedule did what it
was supposed to do: keep the
Democrats and their criticisms of
President Bush in the news (this
helped the president's approval rat
ing dip below 50 percent for the first
time in his presidency) and allow
their eventual nominee to escape the
primary process free of the political
bumps and bruises typical of a more
drawn-out primary season.
Inde^, with a strong showing on
Super Tuesday, Kerry could lock up
the Democratic nomination by this
time next week.
But, whether the Democratic
nominee is Kerry or Edwards, it's
clear the party will emerge from the
primaries unified behind a senator
named John with no one between
them and the White House but
George Bush.
Or is it?
Enter Ralph Nader.
The longtime consumer advo
cate and 2000 Green Party presiden
tial candidate announced Sunday
that he would again run for the pres
idency, this time as an independent.
Democrats contend that the 70-
year-old's quest to "challenge the
two-party duopoly" will also take
votes away fiiom their candidate, in
turn giving an unnecessary edge to
Bush.
They say that's exactly what
happened in the historically close
2000 presidential election. Had A1
Gore received the majority of
Natfer's votes in Florida, he, not
Bush, would now be sitting in the
White House.
And Democrats are worried that
it could happen again.
Before Sunday's
announcement. Democrats
lobbied extensively to con
vince Nader not to run.
Democratic National
Committee chairman
Terry McAuliffe personal
ly urged Nader not to run
and liberal organizers even
set up a Web site devoted to the
cause: http://www.rdlphdontrun.us.
But the Democrats needn't
worry. Nader won't let history repeat
itself.
Certainly Nader, a supporter of
universal healthcare, clean energy
and workers' rights who once called
the president a "dictator," wants
Bush out of office as much as any
body.
And certainly Nader, who will
have to scramble just to get his
name on the ballot in every state,
knows as much as anybody he has
no real shot at winning the presiden
cy.
He's running to ruffle the
Democrats' feathers, not sink their
ship.
It's no coincidence Nader picked
now as the time to enter the presi
dential race.
With just four Democratic candi
dates left, Nader will get more
media time than if he were compet
ing with a Democratic field twice as
laige. And with more than seven
months before the general election,
he has plenty of time to make his
points and then step aside.
Well hear about the need for
election reform, regulation of the
automobile industry, the effects of
media concentration and about
other issues often ignored by the
two main parties.
And, with the threat of a Florida
repeat, the Democrats will have to at
least pretend they're paying atten
tion.
But, as long as Nader exits the
race before the general election, and
in an interview Sunday on NBC's
"Meet the Press," he left this a pos
sibility, he has the potential to do
more harm to Bush than to the
Democratic nominee.
With next to nothing to lose,
even without a party to answer to,
Nader will be as free as ever to
speak his mind. He'll be able to say
all the things the Democrats have
been thinking about Bush but have
found too politically dangerous to
say publicly.
Nader deserves commendation
for his courage to stand up to the
role of corporate interests in
Washington and for his decades of
work to protect consumers, work
ers, taxpayers and the environment.
Even at age 70, he's a political
breath of fresh air.
But, especially at age 70, he
needs to realize that he can do more
damage inside the system than out
side of it. Politics are all about com
promise. Nader's uncompromising
spirit is admirable, and works well
for Nader the activist, but it will lead
to no more than moral victories for
Nader the politician.
If Nader truly wants to be a
politician, he should campaign hard
against Bush as well as against the
Democratic nominee - make it clear
he's a force to be reckoned with.
Then, he should strike a deal: agree
to drop out of the race in exchange
for a high-level post in the
Democrat's administration.
Such a deal would be a win for
both sides. The Democratic nomi
nee would once again have no one
between him and the White House
but Bush himself, and Nader would
have the opportunity for more than
just a moral victory come
November.
Contact Steve Earley at pendu-
lum@elon.edu or 278-7247.