"Not Another Campaign"

Anatoly Kirichenko
"Not Another Campaign"

Everyday when I turn on the news, the first thing I see is a new story about the personal life of Senator Barrack Obama or Senator Hilary Clinton. The campaign has been going on for so long that it appears to be some sort of satire. The two opponents have fought so vigorously, they have argued so much, and it still seems to be going nowhere. If you ask the average American about the platform of either one of these candidates, it is unlikely that you will hear a correct answer. In all honesty, I feel like they don’t even sell anything anymore, and simply talk about change. Change is an empty word, and without specific details, these words are meaningless. Even worse, even if the candidates were honest about their intentions, this is no indication that they will be able to go through with their plan.

Lets take, for example, the healthcare plan proposed by Hilary Clinton. She pledges that by the end of her second term, there will be free healthcare for most Americans. This is an absolutely absurd promise in every sense of the word, since there is no way anyone can predict the state of our economy or our nation in 6-8 years. With things changing so quickly, there is no guarantee that her plan would work. Additionally, the president obviously does not have sway over all decisions, and it is very likely that many of her decisions would be blocked by Congress. For example, she is not pledging to provide free health care to everyone, and when she is elected she will may actually do nothing towards that goal. We have no idea whether she will or whether she will not, and her decision does not depend, at all, on the things that she says. If, five years from now, someone calls her out on this promise and states that she lied, her response it just too simple: “I tried to pass it, but Congress and other politicians/groups interfered with it and did not allow me to achieve free healthcare for everyone.” That’s it. That’s all she needs to do to completely avoid the responsibility that she currently imposes on herself.

Barrack Obama, essentially, does the same thing. His call for “Change” are very generalized, and he does not really know how he will deal with particular issues as they arise. In fact, no one knows how they will deal with particular issues when they arise because it is impossible to take all variables into account. Therefore, the meaningless speeches calling for change are used just to get votes, and they are nothing more. The media does almost nothing to help the candidates actually get their messages across. Unless we read/watch debates and really follow up on politics, which is something that most Americans do not do, we will end up hearing catch phrases and empty slogans, and voting based exclusively on that. While this seem ridiculous, there is no to avoid this truth. When we watch the 10 o’clock news, for example, we see a one minute segment about Clinton and a 1 minute segment about Obama (Unless the news organization is biased and chooses to focus on more candidate more than the other), and all we hear are some pointless slogans and catch phrases, such as “Change we can believe in.” One should ask Obama, what does he mean by change, how does he define change, and really get at him with the questions. Then compare the answers he gives with what he does in office. This would be a very interesting observation, and we would quickly see the lies and falsehoods appear.

This campaign has become so personal that it seems the people don’t care about the issues anymore. When people discuss the candidates, they rarely take their positions into account, and usually discuss them based on race or gender (would you vote for a woman, would you vote for an African American, etc). This has become so prevalent in our society that almost no time is spent actually discussing the important issues and deciding whether or not one or the other candidate has a good position. Even if the candidate does seem to have a solid position and knows what he or she is saying, it still does not resemble what they will be doing once in office. How can we possibly know, for example, if what a candidate says is really his or her opinion, or whether he is saying it just to get votes? It is for this reason that the campaign seems to be so general, and neither Obama nor Hilary say anything controversial with conviction because they are so afraid to discourage a segment of the voters. I think that this has gone to far, and that it undermines the integrity of our political system. The constant debates, the videos, the concern for only those states that matter to the candidate (and not campaigning or caring about those States which will not have any bearing on the election), is something that seems so blatantly dishonest and false that I am surprised others don’t see it. When these politicians speak, it sounds great, but you know they are just saying it to achieve a certain goal—to get votes—and not because they actually believe in what they are saying. It is this attitude, as well as the media’s constant focus on personal issues such as whether or not Obama smokes or whether Hilary dresses appropriately, is what makes the political campaign seem like a joke. After seeing this side of them, I don’t what either Obama or Clinton to become the next president.