at this point, even amid one of the most captivating political upheavals in recent memory, the election process of 2016 is starting to feel like an extended car ride with a group of people after the conversational possibilities have run out. we<u+2019>re all buckled up, with a long way to go, but everyone<u+2019>s most irritating habits are already out in force. we<u+2019>re feeling candidate fatigue, a malady first observed in the 1980s, perhaps earlier, and it<u+2019>s the inevitable consequence of an exceptionally drawn-out political process combined with ample media coverage.









candidate fatigue strikes people at different times. people were already complaining of al gore fatigue in 1999, and the complaints were deafening by 2000. john kerry fatigue<u+2014>yes, there was that in 2004. but it plagues everyone eventually: barack obama, john mccain, mitt romney. yes, yes, yes. and now it<u+2019>s all-of-them fatigue. hillary clinton, donald trump, bernie sanders, ted cruz, and john kasich rotate seats regularly, each of them taking turns at the wheel. each takes a different approach to driving, all of them tiresome.









donald trump used to be the most interesting driver, because he took strange turns and it kind of worked. he also crashed through fruit stands, and that was fascinating, at first. then it seemed like he was driving through fruit stands for no reason other than that it pleased him. perhaps you thought trump had a grander plan with this, that there were some shortcuts being taken now in order to get everyone somewhere worthwhile later. perhaps you don<u+2019>t think so anymore.









hillary clinton is a more controlled driver, at first glance. she sits straight at the wheel, signals diligently, looks attentive. but she doesn<u+2019>t seem to notice, or maybe care, that she<u+2019>s weaving between lanes and belching up exhaust. ask her about it and she smiles, sometimes laughs, and says she doesn<u+2019>t know what you<u+2019>re talking about. she sometimes sings, to project cheer. she does not have a good singing voice.









ted cruz, when driving, moves his seat back, leans the seat-back down, and steers with just one hand, his right, resting his left arm in the open window. this is meant to look confident, manly, and controlled. but it<u+2019>s 40 degrees outside and raining. everyone is cold. ted has planned everything out carefully. he doesn<u+2019>t want you to touch his things. when you left your journal in the hotel room, though, he found it and said he intended to keep it, because technically he was in possession of it. then he started reading it and smirking, occasionally pushing his hand in the air in a shushing gesture and telling you to calm down.









john kasich pulls his seat nearly all the way forward, and he places both hands on the very top of the wheel, elbows at the bottom. he fumes at other drivers, and he gets angry when he makes a wrong turn. if he feels people aren<u+2019>t behaving themselves, he likes to pull over, park on a shoulder, and turn around in his seat to lecture everyone. no one can explain why he<u+2019>s in the car or where he<u+2019>s going.









bernie sanders has two hands on the wheel and drives alertly but also, like kasich, irritably. he yells a lot. he often lifts his arms and spreads his hands, upturned, into the air, to signal incredulity. when hillary takes potshots at his driving, he tells her he<u+2019>s driving fine. he looks tired, and the car<u+2019>s running out of gas, but he thinks he can make it. people tell him to try some of the new features or do some reading to get up to speed on the auto world, but he has an approach to driving and he<u+2019>s sticking to it.









candidate fatigue can be a dangerous thing, actually. in 2000, journalists who were stuck with al gore got so sick of him that they got unfair, amplifying every one of his missteps and inventing some more to boot. that<u+2019>s one reason reporters are rotated more often now. it makes them less likely to fall in love with the candidate or descend into hate. so one must keep that in mind. especially since there are over six months to go.









in any case, we must be grateful to these candidates on the presidential car ride, as they weather the madness of a presidential campaign. it<u+2019>s rough enough to watch them. imagine how much rougher it is to be them.
has hillary clinton outstayed her welcome?
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