I don't care if Cindy McCain borrowed a cookie recipe or if they're remaking Michelle Obama's public image
The gossipy attacks on the spouses of the presidential candidates are just plain dumb. They aren't running for president, and while this trivia may be entertaining to some, it's not important to the future of the nation. No wonder we can't solve the major problems confronting the United States. Our attention span on the things that matter is about two seconds.
What I want to know (for starters) is how Sen. John McCain and Sen. Barack Obama are going to end the war in Iraq, make this country safe from terrorism, fix our energy crisis, make health care affordable to all Americans and solve our immigration problem. And what are their positions on water storage, air quality and global warming? What about the federal justice system and the nation's efforts to battle crime?
Explain all that, and a thousand other issues the president must handle, then we can talk about cookie recipes and the role of spouses. We have a chance in this election to debate the biggest issues of the day in a high-level way. Wouldn't it be nice if McCain and Obama could explain to voters how they differ in their policies and programs, and we could ignore the other nasty stuff that infects so many campaigns these days?
Of course, the families of the candidates are important to the overall picture we have of the party nominees. They are going to be part of the election discussion, and it would be silly to suggest they not be mentioned in the campaign. But how about a little perspective here? To attack the spouses, often with fabricated charges, doesn't help us figure out which candidate will make the best president.
Comments
Amen to that Jim but good luck getting them to do any of it. This behavior is precisely what turns me off to all politics.
Posted by: Jackie Krage | June 24, 2008 9:01 PM
Yes, I agree with you but will any of the two go out of their way to say things that would make a segment of the electorate get mad?
Posted by: Albert Perales R. | June 24, 2008 10:25 PM
Both of the chaps running for the high office of President of The United States, are sitting members of the United States Senate.
MOI pulls up voting records of both on the INTERNET. Most interesting.
MOI also believes in being engaged in the process of government and writes letters to senators, not just the two from California. Each and every person can do that. We can ask questions and have a right to get answers. Perhaps, writing to the Senate Office of these two chaps will give answers to questions on where they stand.
This old geezer lives on a road and part of Fresno that does not get brochures from folks running for office. MOI is registered to vote and DOES.
Jim, you might send MOI some of the brochures you receive, as that might be only ones MOI gets.
Posted by: RobDeFrees | June 25, 2008 6:07 AM
Cindy & Michelle are suffering from Hillary’s raucous co-presidency - remember - "we are the president." Nobody would be paying attention to them, nobody would care about their beliefs if Hillary hadn’t attempted a coup d’etat. (Some would say it was successful).
Posted by: T C Morgan | June 25, 2008 6:53 AM
I waited for someone to ask why it was important for the voter to know
the joys and foibles of the candidates families. Curiously enough;
nobody did. So I ask "WHY?"
Why would it be silly not to mention them throughout the campaign?
Voix populi is not always right. Sometimes it is quite predatory.
Let us take Adlai Stevenson, one of the greatest American statesman
of the last century. He was respected all over the world. Very few would
have cared if he had been married to a saint or to the daughter of Attila
the Hun. Nobody cared who her clothes designer was or her cookie
recipe. The most widely known victim of the people's scrutiny was Jackie Kennedy
I guess they could take me out of Europe (56 years ago) but they can't
take the European out of me.
Posted by: Isabell Lawson | June 25, 2008 2:44 PM
I am not adverse to hearing about the candidates families. It is important because the family makes the man. It is the bad mouthing of each other and putdowns that make me so mad.
Posted by: Jackie Krage | June 25, 2008 9:08 PM
...and yet nobody makes much of the Bush family embarrassments, and their long history of criminal behaviour ranging from S.E.C. convictions for financing the third reich, to their profiting from the saving and loan scandal, the Ken Lay/Enron connections, Bin Laden/Saudi connections, the Presidents brother and cousin in charge of W.T.C. security prior to 9/11...
Posted by: swift | June 26, 2008 10:44 AM
What qualifications does Ariana Huffington have??? NONE, except for getting a bunch of money from her wealthy gay ex husband. Did she become an loyal informed American by being born and raised in Greece? What gives her the right to put everyone else under the microscope and be so critical? We should put Arianna Huffington under the microscope!!!
Posted by: Gina | August 21, 2008 3:53 PM