Instead of focusing on real policy issues that affect us all, the
media continually stirs up emotional, irrelevant "battles." The
recent "race war" spat being one of them (groan). As the primaries
continue, the media will continue feeding us more of the same:
adrenaline trigging drama to keep us watching. If I hear one more
boxing / fighting analogy in reference to the race, I'm going to
clock my TV with a right hook!
But, especially troubling is how the blogosphere eats it up! I've
seen countless blogs, comments and statements on all sides feeding
this frenzy, including completely irrelevant attacks about semantics
and personality. As the stakes are being raised, Obama, Clinton and
Edwards supporters are increasingly buying into the media hype and
resorting to name calling and advancing distorted views.
Let's all take a deep breath, simmer down and take a look at what
really counts, candidate policies. With all the media spin,
misinformation, "tit for tat" and punditry, I encourage everyone to
visit the candidate's Web sites and read their position papers
carefully to make up your own minds.
For instance, since the economy is such an important issue this
election, let's take a brief look at the candidate's solutions to
restore America's competitiveness, standard of living and equal
opportunities.
A lot of our economic ills have to do with unfettered corporate
greed. Instead of investing in education, infrastructure and
science, corporations focus on short-term gains and retaining their
highest level management with obscene compensation packages.
On that front, Edwards has made the most clear distinction about how
he would help clear the lobbyist and corporate cobwebs. For
instance, here Edwards proposes
some real plans for how to begin loosening the grip of corporate
corruption on our political process and create a more equitable
distribution of wealth.
There needs to be a redistribution of wealth in this country. But,
we also need programs and solutions to restore America's
competitiveness, economic power, innovation, etc. I'd like to hear
more about how Edwards will support and encourage small businesses
and increase the competitiveness, social responsibility and equity of
big business.
Edwards can do a better job describing his macro economic policies.
We need a strong economy, continuing innovation, flourishing small
businesses and responsible big business in order to implement all the
wonderful social programs Edwards advocates. I'd like to see Edwards
expand on his "innovation issue" to include more specific business
ideas.
Clinton also presents some in-depth ideas for the middle class and
also for increasing America's competitiveness. In addition to
quite a few concrete plans for the middle-class and poor, Clinton
also focuses on macro economic issues, which will be important to
improving our overall economy.
Obama -- who is supposed to have the least concrete experience -- is
doing a great job addressing both marco and micro economic issues.
But, both Obma and Clinton are not doing as good a job as Edwards
explaining how they will take on corporate exploitation and lobbyists.
So, while you are having fun watching the media spectacle and blog
reactions during the Presidential campaign, take some time out to
browse the candidate Web sites. We don't need the MSM or pundits any
longer to tell us what to think about candidate positions; we can do
it ourselves!
After reading the candidate's economic proposals, who do you think
will be able to best tackle the economic disaster the Bush
administration has left us with?