Voter Groups to Sway

Election 2008 (USA)

As the Presidential Campaign continues, in this long drawn out process, as the two Candidates jockey for an edge, as pollsters and other pundits make predictions, as groups of interest become larger, and more diverse, you have to wonder, can any Candidate stand a chance today? I mean it seems that both Candidates are pandering to each individual group, instead of coming up with a National Goal(s). And the Media are pushing that pandering, with their stupid breakdowns of who is for, who is against what.

I mean so 80% of this group support Amnesty, while 80% of that group opposes it? Isn’t that what a diverse society is supposed to be about, DIFFERENCES? Does it matter if eighteen year olds are more concerned about the Environment than Seniors? Is it more important to a candidate to know that a majority of White Women support this candidate over that candidate, because of Gender Support, or Abortion?

I mean do we need to have it broken down into such fine details, or should be concentrating on the overall picture?

A recent Wall Street Journal poll showed Obama has a clear advantage over McCain in the 18-34-year-old age group - 55 percent for Obama; 31 percent for McCain. But for voters 65 and older, it’s McCain over Obama - 51 percent to 41 percent. And the gap is widening. (source - CBS News)

While I can see candidate’s needing that information, to help them define or EXPLAIN their policies, I just don’t get the fascination with the minute details. I think the role of any candidate is to tell me where they stand, how they will tackle issues, and then do their level best to convince me that they have it right. I don’t want a Candidate telling me something about just what interests me, they are running for office for a NATIONAL AUDIENCE, not just a segment.

We have seen what happens when you run to appease a select group of people. You don’t get diversity, nor do you get much else done, but divisions. You get HATE, and you get WARS IN FOREIGN LANDS. That is what happens when YOU APPEASE A SMALL VOCAL GROUP.

Obama is inspiring people, yet listen to the way the Media harps on his differences. They run specials about Blacks in America, so to insure voters think of the racial differences. They run Op Ed pieces about those around the candidates, claiming this one is wrong, that one is tied in with that group, yet they never say where the candidates stand.  They highlight differences of who wears a lapel pin and who doesn’t.

The Media speculates, and tags one Foreign Trip as being Politically Motivated, while IGNORING similar trips by the Other Candidate. They target those who want Change, to be narrow minded, or call them LIBERAL. Those who oppose change, they call CONSERVATIVE or other connotations that have a nastiness to them.

If Obama & McCain have an economic solution for the Financial Markets, for the troubled Banks, for the hurting Home Owner, maybe they should be allowed to explain it, to educate the Voter on it, instead of being forced to defend their trips abroad, instead of having to defend the views of their Preachers, or their advisors?

Everything is about SHOW, rather than SUBSTANCE.

The Economy has been in trouble for some time, so only now John McCain is going to learn more about it, and come up with a plan? And that supposedly is a man with Experience?  Obama claims he is a fighter for civil rights, but won’t repeal DADT, won’t REPEAL PATRIOT ACTS I & II.  Or at least, he won’t comment on it.

Neither Candidate has even expressed what they will do about the use of Torture, in any specific manner. Sure, they have come out in opposition to it, but then so has Bush. Yet Bush continues to support it, to allow it to be used, so he comes out against it, big friggin deal. So how about the Media shut up, the pundits take a vacation, and how about the Candidates stop worrying about which group to pander to, and start acting like LEADERS?

Ian @ July 27, 2008