Where is the candidate who inspired so many people to register to vote? The one who encouraged more than just young people to register and be actively involved, but also middle aged Americans? Where is Barack Obama? At the same rate, where was the candidate who likes to buck his own party and tout bi-partisanship? Where was the one with solutions through his experience? Where is John McCain? Where are the two candidate that long ago promised a less contrived way of running for president? Are they both gone - lost to the envy of the presidency?
I heard amazing talking points last night, well up until about forty-five minutes into the debate that is. You see, I simply got up from my chair in the middle of about 200 people who had gathered on Lipscomb's campus to watch and went back to my dorm room. Once there, I put on my rain gear and went outside and played in the rain and stomped in puddles because I knew I would learn about as much outside as I would have watching the debate. When it comes to the economic crisis, the war, the war on poverty, healthcare and education the nearly 60 million people watching should have joined me because that debate offered no real solutions.
I know who I am voting for but I enjoy a good debate, therefor I watch them all. But last night was different; I couldn't bare to watch. With character assassinations and bringing up things from both men's past, I was DISGUSTED. What about those that are not decided? What did the people who are still looking for someone to lead them out of this economic meltdown, a war in Iraq and an ailing healthcare and education system learn from the debate last night? NOTHING, except for the fact that these two man can't stop throwing low blows to face the issues you and I face. Where is their dignity? Where is their pride in country? Where are the answers to OUR questions, not the questions each of them raise about the other?
It is far past the time when these men should stop attacking each other and start attacking the issues. If I hear the words: maverick, change, hope, Keating, tax-increase, angry-man, age, experience, celebrity, rock star, the one, that one - I think I will explode. I have never had such a feeling of disdain in an election. I love politics but at this point I am borderline apathetic because no one is answering the questions that face our great country in this truly troubling time. And for those of you that know me, if I am apathetic, I can't imagine what the rest of the country feels.
It is more than ENOUGH! I am so sick of hearing what their stump speeches are, what is written in the books they bring on the set, what the other person did in years past, what their records are; I want to know what they are planning to do NOW - NOW that our economy is falling apart, NOW that parents struggle to send kids to private schools because the public ones are failing all standards, NOW that we have killed 250,000 innocent civilians in Iraq, NOW that millions of people are left without the resources to pay for healthcare, NOW that the American dollar is worth its lowest since the depression. Not, THEN, I want NOW. Records are clear to us, we can check that; what isn't clear is what they want to do NOW.
If pressed, I would say that - while both did a horrible job in the debates, their commercials, mailers and web ads - Sen. Obama is the one with the most clear message. His is still muddled with attacks that Sen. McCain evokes from him. While neither men are clear in what they want to do, the one clear choice is Obama. I encourage you to do as I did and read Sen. Obama's site, his Blueprint for Change. There is where I found that his plans are what America needs in these tough times. He lays out exactly what he plans to do here, without the distractions from Senator McCain who knows his campaign is failed and is resorting to character attacks to garner votes.
1 comment:
The reality is that negative campaigning is a part of reality. We all hate it. Every year voters, like you, complain that the current year's campaign is dirtier than ever before. Recently it was 'swiftboat' ads run to question Kerry's service during Vietnam by Bush who pansied out of service. In the 2000 primaries Karl Rove sparked rumors that John McCain's adopted daughter was actual an illegitimate child and reminded voters that Cindy McCain was a former drug addict. Before that we saw current GA Senator Saxby Chambliss compare Vietnam war hero and triple amputee Max Cleland to Osama Bin Laden and question whether he was treasonous. Before that it was the racist Willie Horton ads run by Daddy Bush. Before that it was LBJ with the Daisy ad making America think that kids everywhere would blow up if Goldwater were elected. Heck, negative campaigning goes back to the Founding Fathers when John Adams said that Thomas Jefferson was "the son of a half-breed Indian Squaw." Negative campaigning is older than America for goodness sake.
The God-honest truth is that a lot of the time these ads work. We whine about 'em, but let's get real, swiftboating beat Kerry. Saxby's deplorable ads lifted him over Cleland. Bush's rumors pushed him over McCain in South Carolina. Dukakis was beating Daddy Bush till the Horton ad. Candidates wouldn't run these ads if they didn't work, sadly. Yea, I hate it that Obama had to respond in kind to McCain's barbs last night, and over the next few weeks, but I've never seen a boxer win a fight by playing defense the entire time. You've got to punch back. Democrats have always tried to stay above the fray in these ads (Kerry, Dukakis, and Cleland) and every time they lose. Senator Obama is doing the right thing.
What you can look at though is how these men are attacking. Obama's attacks contain substance. Keating 5 deals with how McCain has acted in the last financial crisis of his career. In the debate, Obama's barbs were either to correct the record or show contrast. McCain and Palin's attacks are blatant race-baiting, allowing surrogates to proclaim "Barack Hussein Obama" and referring to him as basically a terrorist in training. These attacks are just stupid, and frankly unbecoming of a candidates who many Christians say they support for their 'values'.
Keep your chin up, the negativity will be over soon. But get ready, I'm sure 2012 will also be 'the worst ever'.
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