If I hear one more reference to
“Bushisms,†or one more person called
a “flip-flopper,†I am going to lose
it.
Haunted memories from the 2004 presidential election
— memories I would rather forget
— will not go away because every time I turn my
head, I hear politicians complaining about and bickering with each
other.
The seeds of these kinds of politics are being planted already,
with the next presidential election two and a half years away. A
Los Angeles Times column from April 16 calls presidential hopeful
John McCain a “flip-flopper†and
“weasel-y,†which leaves me to wonder
why it isn’t alright for politicians to change
their minds. The idea that politicians aren’t
allowed to learn anything new is nothing short of silly.
On the other side, the Democratic front runner has been tagged
with a new ink. On ABC, Ken Mehlman, chairman of the Republican
Party, said that Hillary Clinton “seems to have a
lot of anger,†setting the stage for her to be labeled
as an emotionally unpredictable woman.
Isn’t it still one or two years early for
this kind of nonsense? The midterm elections
haven’t even happened yet. I may be hopelessly
optimistic, but I would like to think that within the student
community, we can get above this before it goes too far …
again.
By the end of the 2004 presidential election, all I learned was
that Bush is an idle, evil moron who started a war to line his own
pockets, and that John Kerry is a flip-flopping pansy, a quivering
mass of indecision who shouldn’t be trusted as
the night manager of a Starbucks, let alone as president of the
United States.
Take the example of John Murtha, Democratic congressman from
Pennsylvania. On Nov. 17 last year, Murtha called for the immediate
return of U.S. troops from Iraq. He was immediately called a
“coward†by Ohio Congresswoman Jean
Schmidt, and had his war record called into question.
So while this could have been an occasion to sit down and debate
the war’s details, merit and eventual goals,
what came out of Murtha’s proposal was an attack
questioning the veracity of the wounds he received 38 years ago. As
Massachusetts Senator Ted Kennedy interpreted,
“The president and vice president have abandoned
any pretense of leading this country and have gone back on the
campaign trail.â€
Senator Kennedy’s comments, in turn,
perpetuate the problem. That the executive branch does more public
relations than governing is an idea to be discussed, but to use
words like “abandoned†and
“pretense†is to be a part of the
problem, not the solution.
I dislike Bush as a president, but I hate to hear a chance for
debate forsaken in place of quick, easy labels like evil or stupid.
George Bush is the president of the United States.
We’re not asking him to proofread an English
paper, we’re asking him to govern the country,
and it is on his governing that he should be celebrated or
condemned.
Partisan bickering only serves to entrench party lines.
According to the political analysis form Polidata, as cited by The
Washington Post, the 2004 elections were the most polarized since
the 1980s, and it’s no wonder. If Democrats are
weak and Republicans are heartless, the only people who lose are
the voters.
Negative campaigning is going to happen. The day that
below-the-belt attack campaigning ends will be the day I take a
ride on a moonbeam to Happytown. You can hate President Bush all
you want, but he’s neither evil nor stupid. John
Murtha is not a coward, John McCain earnestly seems to speak his
mind, and Hillary Clinton is as capable of the presidency as any
other candidate.
The manner in which each of these individuals would serve this
country and its citizens is the foundation of political debate. So
how about this instead of the mudslinging: Who would best serve
this country as president?