Summer Campaign Doldrums

[EDITORIAL NOTE: If you missed Millie Garfield's appearance on ABC-TV World News with Charles Gibson last evening, you can see the segment and some behind-the-scenes video at her place, My Mom's Blog.]

Maybe it happens during every presidential campaign. Unfortunately, they roll around only every four years, so Crabby Old Lady can’t remember if it’s always been this unproductive leading up to the conventions. The candidates and their surrogates are doing nothing but sniping at each other over who is more patriotic and other non-issues.

The media is saying Senator Obama has fallen off his pedestal, Senator McCain is contradicting himself and some of those Senator Clinton diehards are refusing to die easy. Meanwhile, what of the economy?

Flip-flops have entertained the media in recent weeks. Crabby has never understood why changing one’s mind is a negative trait in a politician. One would hope they are flexible enough to take a new position when information or circumstance warrants it.

Of course, the candidates don’t handle their flip-flops well. Instead of laying out their reasons for moving in another direction, they get defensive. It’s hard to know if that’s a chicken or an egg question: are they defensive because the other candidate and media attack them for flip-flopping? Or are they attacked because they are defensive about their flip-flops?

Political pandering aside, Crabby yearns to hear a candidate say, “For a long time I believed X was the right thing to do. Now, however, because of A, B and C, I’ve come to a different conclusion. Let me explain…”

The dog days of August haven’t even arrived yet, but these are certainly the dog days of the campaign. Is Bill Clinton being stingy in his support of Senator Obama? Crabby Old Lady doesn’t care. Has the media found another tainted advisor or donor to Senator McCain’s or Senator Obama’s campaign? Even if they have, it’s not headline news. Crabby knows and you know that politics has always been thus.

These months between the presumptive nominees having been selected and the full-throttle campaign following the conventions would be an ideal time for the candidates, the parties and particularly the media to fully explore, examine and explain the details underlying the crucial issues the country faces. There is an overwhelming number:

• the war(s), of course
• health care
• Medicare
• Social Security
• education
• the housing/mortgage meltdown
• consumer debt
• gas prices
• food prices
• water shortages
• the economy in general
• the environment
• job offshoring
• restoration of civil rights and the Constitution
• the demise of the middle class
• trade policies and
• the home heating fuel crisis that is certain to hit when the weather cools in the fall

Do you understand all these issues? Really understand them well enough to make a reasoned determination of what you think needs to be done? Crabby Old Lady doesn’t and occasional 500-word editorials in newspapers don’t cut it when so much has gone wrong and so much is at stake for the future of the United States, even the world and American life.

Instead of thoroughly investigating these issues and potential solutions pro and con to actually educate we-the-electorate, the media is interested only in uncovering political “scandals” and most of all, playing political strategist. Every newscast, every newspaper and too many blogs daily discuss, ad nauseum, what a candidate should say and do next to counter the other candidate’s empty accusations. That is an internal matter for the campaigns - or should be.

None of this does anything to illuminate the terrifying, complicated issues on our collective plate. Local media should already be investigating Congressional candidates’ positions on these issues too. Crabby doesn’t know what’s going on in your town, but there is nothing being said or written here in Maine except the occasional newsletter from a candidate filled with manipulative buzzwords.

Come to think of it, defined as Crabby has done above, the entire campaign from the beginning of the primaries has been in the doldrums. The Democratic primary appeared to be exciting, but only due to the exceptional nature of the two final candidates and the wire-finish horse race. It was never about the critical issues confronting us. And now, the candidates and the media are hell-bent on making the general election campaign about no more than the non-significance of flag pins.

If you are wondering why this is so, Crabby Old Lady suggests that it may be worth taking a second look at the George Carlin riff published here at TGB last Saturday. [4:49 minutes]

It may be too late to alter the trajectory of the United States into the clutches of the international corporatocracy, but that doesn't mean we shouldn't try. Independence Day is a good time to ponder our past, our future and our individual responsibilities to them.

[At The Elder Storytelling Place today, Camille Koepnick Shaffer recalls the torture of anticipating her First Boy-Girl Party.]

Comments

[Darlene]

I am very pragmatic and I think that the candidates don't dare lay out specific positions on the many serious issues facing us today. When they try, they are punished. Remember Mondale saying we will both raise taxes; the difference is, he isn't telling you he will and I am. Well, you know where being specific got him.

I do agree that changing ones mind is a virtue. Look at the current occupant in the White House if you think stubbornness is a good thing.

The candidates have laid out some details on issues like health care, but that is a popular issue and not a risky one to take.

To avoid giving their opponent ammunition to pillory them they take the vague answer route and avoid specifics because they know if they tell the truth they won't get elected. I think Mencken had it right; the average John Q. Public does not know, or care, about the issues beyond their own parochial pocketbook and are completely incapable of thinking critically. (my own version)

Knowing this, the media concentrate on the superficial because it piques the interest of the viewer. Only those of us who study the real issues are interested in delving into the positions of the candidates on the very critical issues facing us. The lazy voter would rather be like George Bush and vote his gut feeling.

I am not only pragmatic, I am cynical. When something like 20% of the public believe Obama is a Muslim, the 'swift boaters' know garbage being spread works and then tell more outright lies forcing the opponent to defend himself.

It's a sad commentary on the voter's attention span, but to use your chicken-egg analogy, I don't know how to break the cycle. I believe that democracy can only work if the public is forced to study the issues and I don't have a clue as to how you could do that.

[Granny Annie]

One of the cable news jocks actually said we are being misled by bloggers and email cut and pasters and should be getting our "factual" political reports from the mainstream media. Is that a hoot or what? You are totally on target with this post.

[Travelinoma]

During this hiatus, while the media is busily trying to find something interesting to say to keep us loyal until the conventions, I would love to have some objective experts on various issues explain them to us. Tell us the truth and discuss what is possible and how to proceed with various different ideas. Then, if during the debates we could get a straight answer on what a candidate's position is, we could vote based on something other than where the wives got their clothes, and whose cookie recipe was stolen off the Internet.

[Claire Jean]

Over the past 15 years or so, I have changed direction in many areas of my life. Some changes have been more drastic than others. Many times when you openly and honestly express your views on matters that can be sensitive and unpopular, you take a risk. It's not always easy, even if you're not trying to win a race, but simply hoping to hold on to a friendship. Will ignoring the real issues and concentrating on who is patriotic and who is not decide who wins the election? If that's the case, we all lose.

[Rain]

I always assume I won't agree with all of what any candidate does or says. It's a matter of getting someone who generally feels as I do about the issues. I also can change my mind on an issue and like leaders who can make wise choices based on current information, not get locked in to some past opinion based on fear of being thought weak. When we were raising our kids, we had a rule. They could ask twice for something. The first time we might not have thought it through thoroughly. The second time we would and unless something changed, that was going to stick. I think politicians often answer off the cuff and should have a right to change just plain change once or when new info comes along. One who constantly flops around will make me uneasy.

[Rabon]

Oh Crabby, you are such a breath of mature sanity. Thank you for this blog. Never doubt your value to those of us who have lived a long time and care more than ever. Some days I pray for complete systemic collapse, so that at least the chaos my grandchildren will inherit could possibly lead to new beginnings.

[Mary]

This is very succinct. It is so discouraging to find that all that is left is rhetoric - no real values or "change" on the horizon - as George Carlin states in the video - we are not the "owners" and the politicians are all already in the back pocket of the "owners" - (who EXACTLY are they?). The critical issues are nowhere in site. What exactly are they and how does each candidate plan to address them? No data. No plan - just a different personality performing the same role. Why did the press shut up Ron Paul? He got virtually no coverage because he had too much to say, perhaps? The issues he raised were not even given a second look. Curious - that is all I'm saying.

[Kay Dennison]

I can't add anything except to say that yo have it right!!!! Thank you!!!!

[joared]

Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! I have been writing for some time about this very subject of the actual issues being ignored. You always say it so much better than I do, plus your words gain wider exposure and that's what matters.

Clearly, many of us are all on the same page about this. Don't you wish the candidates, press and so many others would pay attention?

You covered the issues that should be being addressed really well. Expect we could all come up with even more were the candidates to run out of subject matter. Rehabilitating ourselves with the rest of the world is high on my list, but expect if we'd just effectively deal with all the items on your list that would go a long way toward accomplishing that objective.

Absolutely, changing position on issues is sometimes the most intelligent behavior. We certainly know what can happen when there is an inability to consider new factors, admit the reduced value of old ones and change positions.

I've been in the doldrums about this election for a long time, partially for some of these "failures to have the issues front and center" reasons. I do think this campaign's lack of productiveness is much more pronounced this year than previous campaign years.

[Dr. Ron Evans]

A big slogan on the X Files was always The Truth is Out There. I for one do not look for it from either party or either major candidate. They say that all politics is local, and I put my energies in that direction. National politics are owned by mega-corporations and have nothing to offer most of us.

[Mary Jamison]

Crabby - you are *so* right on this. Even NPR is, and has been, about the "race" and not about the issues. The coverage treats it like a sporting event - which is a game, unlike, say, my future, the shape of which hinges on solutions to the problems you've mentioned.

[Dorothy Stahlnecker]

Dear Crabby Old Lady, I think you hit the nail on the head, and its worth repeating. The issues you mention are our lives. Young and old families are barely hanging on today. With the most emphasis's on transportation, health care, and our social security (its present and future). Our soldiers are over worked, stressed, and not given the appropriate care after they serve our country. And what should we do ignore these problems in order to pick a president... Speak up candidates and shed some light on what we can expect from you if we pick you for the job....

However, I doubt we will ever hear their words. I've never met a politician capable of answering a question with anything other then another question or another thought to take us off the subject. I'm crabby too.... Great article..I thank you..

Dorothy from grammology
remember to hug your gram
grammology.com