Today I turn thirty-five, and thus fully complete all Constitutional requirements for the office of President of the United States of America. I am undecided whether to write my own name in on the ballot, or just to vote "No" to all.

There's no way I would vote for a fucking Republican, but John Kerry has left me bereft of any urge to follow my normal tendencies in voting a full Democratic slate. I cannot cast a ballot for such an unserious man, someone who thinks that the French were only in need of a certain nuanced suasion to fully commit themselves to our side. Au contraire; the French are on their own side and have been throughout the Iraq situation. They are acting in their own interests and that will not change, no matter the outcome November 2nd.

So Kerry doesn't get it that we're in a war. Bush does, and to his credit has understood the resolve required to forge ahead despite the querulousness and back-biting disdain, and outright opposition, of some of our soi-disant "allies".

However, Bush does not understand that a time of war is not the time to effect domestic change for which he has no mandate. The nation must be brought to an understanding of the struggle, and the need for some sacrifice to bear its costs. This Bush has not done, and where his resolve abroad is necessary, at home it manifests as wilful disregard for vast swaths of the polity.

Were there no war on, I could vote for Kerry. But I cannot, and I cannot vote for Bush. So perhaps I vote for me.