Monday, September 1, 2008

Is it Time to Change Our Focus?

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/31/opinion/31dowd.html?ex=1377921600&en=2fc2820dadcca789&ei=5124&partner=permalink&exprod=permalink

Just when you start to lose a little bit of faith in the New York Times, the Op-Ed writers manage to pull out some gems. This is a great commentary, on how unlikely McCain's VP pick is.

Dowd points a blaring light on America's misplaced fascination with a candidate who is a character. This started to become evident with the election and then reelection of George W. Bush. His victories had less to do with what he stood for and more to do with his folksy nature that made him appear to be "one of the guys." Somehow, which candidate the voter was most likely to have a beer with trumped which candidate was most qualified to run the country as the deciding factor. Hmm...I think I missed that day in high school civics class.

This phenomenon is more evident in the 2008 election. Of course, this is a historic election and that has to do with the identity of the candidates. But, once again, who the candidates are has overshadowed what they plan to do for the country. While it's about time that we have diverse presidential candidates, we should be careful to emphasize the character of the candidates rather than the candidates as characters.