With apologies to Abigail van Buren

Dear Abby,
I'm in bit of a quandary. I ran for office in 2008, but failed to get my party's nomination for the particular position I desired. And when I say "desired," I mean I lusted after it with a passion you can't even begin to imagine. My husband had held this position before, and back then I was regarded as just an appendage. But trust me, with an undergraduate degree from a prestigious women's college and a law degree from a prominent Ivy League university, I'm not some little Loretta Lynn stand-by-your-man type.

To be honest, I'm actually more the Evita type.

So I figured it was my turn, and early on I was favored to win, but this brash young black man came out of nowhere to take the nomination away from me. This guy had less contact with black people during his childhood than I did growing up in a lily white Chicago suburb, but he played the race card like a violin. And even though blacks are only 12% of the population, they're a quarter of the electorate in my political party, so I lost the nomination. You know those darkies, they'll always vote for their own. Oops, did I actually just say that? (It does drive me crazy to think of how ungrateful they are, after all my husband and I had done for them!)

Anyway, it's been three years since this young man got elected, and the bloom is off the rose. People are finally seeing this phony for who he is -- a con man who knows nothing about economics, or foreign relations, or anything other than repeating his tired old mantra about how rich people have to pay more. And now all he does all day is watch ESPN and play golf. People are sick of him. I know I'm sick of him. As a matter of fact I often wake up in the middle of the night and all I can think about is how much I hate him. The fact is, I would have done a much, much better job than him.

So my question is, should I challenge him for our party's nomination this spring? Some consider it bad form to challenge the incumbent of your own party. But I actually think I'd have a better shot at defeating the other party's candidate for this particular position than the current officeholder would. The only problem is, I've actually been working for him these past three years. He appointed me to a fairly prominent position in what everybody said was a keep-your-friends-close-but-your-enemies-closer kind of way, but I'm still concerned that it might make me appear disloyal.

What do you think?
Puzzled in DC

Dear Puzzled in DC,
I think you should run. This guy sounds like a real loser, and if he's as you describe, people must be sick of him. And even though you worked for him, if he's as bad as you say, the electorate will realize that your close up view of the guy means that you know better than anyone else how incompetent he is.

But I also think you sound a little obsessive; you liken yourself to Evita, but you strike me as more the Lady MacBeth type. So whether or not you get the nomination, I think you should consider seeing a psychiatrist. A good shrink might do you a world of good, especially if you're waking up in the middle of the night obsessing about this current officeholder.

By the way, are you sure you're not sexually infatuated with him and that this is not just repressed lust you feel?
Abby