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Issues Please
by Sudhama Ranganathan
Saturday, Aug. 09, 2008 at 10:13 AM
uconnharassment@gmail.com
As the summer games start we are reminded of the spirit of competition and goodwill synonymous with the Olympic season. Athletes from across the globe gather to represent not only the best each country can offer the next, but the best people can offer each other. Through sports we share the heart and soul of a global community and witness possibilities in individuals we only dream are possible.
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Of course we know better than to expect that much from politics. This being an election year we understand things can get down and dirty where polished exteriors often give way to tooth and nail street fights. Once a candidate becomes worried or desperate we can usually expect smear to make it’s way onto the stage.
Compared with the last two presidents this year’s presumptive nominees have slightly different images at least in terms of public expectations. Although both Bill Clinton and George W. Bush symbolized change if elected for those who voted for them their first terms the current candidates are believed to herald something new in the kind of campaigns they will run as well. The ads have started and the criticism has been hard as expected.
However, we have also seen petty shallow attacks reminiscent of past campaigns and campaign styles specifically the 2000 & 2004 Bush campaigns where smear tactics were the order of the day. These were used in place of issue based criticism to win elections and we are currently paying a heavy toll for buying into it. Recently one of this year’s candidates brought in some new blood from other campaigns to pick up his effort which was lagging. There is nothing wrong with this as both candidates have absorbed people from other campaigns. What direction each campaign goes in is ultimately decided by the candidates themselves.
During the 2000 election, after losing in New Hampshire and fearful of losing South Carolina, supporters of the Bush campaign sunk to the low end of the spectrum in order not to lose the Republican primary. John McCain had just won New Hampshire and was doing well. Supporters of the Bush campaign began spreading a rumor about McCain’s adopted child from Bangladesh stating she was his biological daughter born out of wedlock. The Bush campaign won South Carolina and many attribute this in part to the lie spread in order to demean McCain’s integrity and that of his family.
Rick Davis, who helped run McCain’s 2000 election and the current bid, called these tactics the “blackest of dark arts” when referring to this incident in an article from March of 2004 written for the Boston Globe. Ironically some of the very people hired to rev up the Arizona Senator’s campaign are players picked straight from previous George W. Bush campaigns like Steve Schmidt, Nicole Wallace and Greg Jenkins. Soon after their arrival the now infamously aggressive and silly ads comparing Barack Obama to Britney Spears and Paris Hilton hit the airwaves.
The mantra being repeated in the ads claims Barack Obama is out of touch with ordinary people. This is not true about Senator Obama any more than Senator McCain. In fact for years the Chicago Senator worked tirelessly in poor and working class neighborhoods in an effort to help get people registered to vote, with jobs, education and other issues. This is no glamorous lifestyle but it did keep him in touch with ordinary working class people. He still lives in a neighborhood very close to the district he once worked in and on behalf of as a state senator.
It’s easy enough to sink to the low tactics of smear campaigns and attempting to use lies and exaggerations to discredit someone. I understand this because when I was a student at the University of Connecticut’s Landscape Architecture Department I went through similar attacks by professors and others. It wasn’t a world stage and happened in a different environment but it was way over the top.
In an election year voters want to hear about what candidates will do for them and how they will get it done. They want to hear about things which will affect them. If it is clear and believable people can take mental notes to compare with alternative voices. A candidate is out of touch when they have nothing better than smears to take notes on. It means people aren’t listening so they are resorting to distractions.
With an economy on the verge of recession, a war costing us billions of dollars a month and good paying U.S. jobs being shipped overseas Americans want to know what candidates will do to put a stopper on the current flow of political decisions. The last thing we want or need is more George W. Bush style politics and leadership.
What we need now is to know what will be done to change the mess we are in and who has the plan to do it. We don’t need tabloid talk and political tactics speaking to the basest aspects of human nature. I don’t know about anyone else but with the economy the way it is I would much rather talk about the pie on the table than the pie in the sky.
To read about my inspiration for this article go to www.lawsuitagainstuconn.com.
www.lawsuitagainstuconn.com
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