Politics: The Attacks

The modern day American presidential race is an interesting one. Millions of dollars from donors and the candidates themselves are poured into the campaign machine which spits out numerous promotional ads, candidate visits, and attacks on the other candidate through all forms of media. Both sides do it, and often times both sides also condemn the other for doing so. Anybody who turns on the TV in the late summer and fall of an election year has seen them. Obama is a Muslim extremist with a crazy pastor. McCain is an ancient warmonger who wants to keep our troops in Iraq for the next eight years, at minimum. Which begs the question, why can't America focus on the positive?

To me it seems simple. It is much easier to attack the views of an opposing candidate than to lay out one's plans for the next four years. One thing I distinctly remember from the 2004 election was John Kerry's ads. There were two types, the attack ads and the ads promoting Kerry's views. The attack ads were very specific, attacking Bush for his actions regarding this, or his views regarding that. However, Kerry's ads that supposedly informed the public on his views and plans were incredibly vague. The ads centered around a grand 'plan' that was to be enacted when Kerry was elected to office. The average voted was not informed of anything that may be included in this plan, just that it existed. Which leads to the question, why are these politicians so vague?

Personally, I would like to see ads from both Obama and McCain stating their exact views on issues. But that is for debates, newspapers, and political shows. The average American who just watches TV for his/her weekly fix of 24 or Grey's Anatomy doesn't get this. I think this results from a reluctance from politicians who don't want to make statements that can come back to bite them later. It happened to George Bush. Think he regrets telling the public, "read my lips, no new taxes?" I imagine he does, he took a major hit and I believe that was a major helping factor in Clinton's win. Presidential candidates since then do not want the same thing to happen to them. And the thing is, people's views change. There is nothing wrong with that. However, we hold our politicians, the president most of all, to a higher standard. Whether that is fair or not is irrelevant, the fact is changing one's views is frowned upon. Especially when those views may have helped one get elected. As a result, politicians protect themselves from this in the best way possible, by force feeding vague promises and attack ads down the public's throat. Unless you pay close attention to politics, that may be all you get. And that is a crying shame.