Wednesday, February 20, 2008

Thoughts on the Election

I just love the pictures they select on DrudgeReport...they love Hillary :-P

Anyway, many people have been asking me about my thoughts on the Presidential Election and wondering who I actually voted for in the GA primary. I've been reluctant to share because at heart I'm an academic and we really should manage to stay objective in our thinking. It also aides in our viewing of election materials, articles, and various other mediums we choose to study. I am by no means saying that I don't have an opinion, but I choose to exercise that opinion privately.

With that said, I would like to share some of my objective thoughts about this election season thus ar. I will refrain from making predictions because I'm neither a pundit nor an fortune teller for the American voter. I like to leave it up to the process...that's what it's there for.

The number one trend I'm most thrilled about in this election is the shear amount of involvement, discussion and engagement with politics. I love to hear people discussing politics around campus, on the bus, in coffee shops and elsewhere. No matter what you think about red and blue states, we as a nation need to continue this engagement and educating ourselves on the political process. I was so happy to see more explanations of the delegate system and how the political process works. These thoughts may be my idealism showing, but I don't think I'm in the minority either.

Another trend I think is related to the engagement is the overall lack of negativity between candidates. Though there have been examples of classic attack including the "war of words" (interesting article about that: http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=cp_fpfs1pmkq14&show_article=1) and McCain's most recent comments about Obama's inexperience. However, overall, the candidates have attempted to put themselves up for election without taking down their opponents. A student asked me during a recent lecture about political advertising about how the lack of negativity would play as we went forward. My thought is cynical because I don't see it lasting as we go into the general election period. The party loyalty is important right now, but once it is Republican versus Democrat...we will most likely regress back into the typical negative attacks.

As the primaries go forward, especially with the Democrats, I think it's now important to concentrate on policy differences between Clinton and Obama. Yes, there are a lot of similarities, but also differences. These are what should make the difference...not gender, race, etc. On the subject of change...as Clinton stated in one of the debates, no matter which candidate you choose on the Democratic side, there will be change. [No bias intended].

As for McCain, I do not think he should be attempting to influence the Democratic primaries. He should work on maintaining party loyalty and focus on his choice for a VP. Also, come up with solid plan for Iraq, other than another 100 years of occupation. [A joke...no more]

In other news...I'm thrilled to see that the first search result that comes up when you Google my name is this blog :)

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