DECRUZ PULIKOTTIL | staff writer
Negativity is an unpleasant aspect of political campaigning.
Everyone seems to be having a fit about the negativity and the toxic atmosphere in political campaigning. Tune into the radio, television, or Internet and you will find a great multitude of pundits who decry the recent guttural politics of Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, and John McCain.
Clinton’s seemingly desperate efforts were evident two weeks ago when an online tabloid, the Drudge Report, posted a picture of Obama in traditional Kenyan garb. Matt Drudge reported that a Clinton staffer circulated the picture. Showing Obama in seemingly Islamic clothing is not helpful in escaping the “Muslim Obama” persona critics have pushed. The Clinton staffer who was responsible for the photograph was later fi red.
Obama has also been accused of using quotes in his speeches without attributing them to the proper source. The next time you choose to complain to the professor about completing every citation, be prepared for a summary of the previous news item. Obama also had a role in the giving end of hardball politics.
His campaign aides sent out fl iers claiming that Clinton had been less than forthcoming on her stance on the North Atlantic Free Trade Agreement.
No need to worry though, I haven’t forgotten the Republicans. Mitt Romney was driven out by an acrid campaign led by Evangelicals who wondered if he was “too Mormon” to be conservative. John McCain is familiar with negative campaign tactics as well.
His presidential campaign in 2000 was derailed almost entirely because of anonymous calls to potential voters about his illegitimate child. McCain had adopted a Bangladeshi child.
It happens every year. The politicians start out by saying how wonderful they will be and how nicely they will
play the game, and as if on cue, one person throws the fi rst dart. Sunday afternoon news talk shows start to roll the video clips. Youtube servers are hit by an onslaught of political junkies who want to see the latest faux pas. Matt Drudge posts a link and an insider report. Then everyone starts to cry foul about how terrible politics is today.
A ll this is silly. The very idea campaigning it is to talk about how you are better than the guy next to you. I watched the ASB speeches this past Monday and had to laugh as every candidate stepped on stage and explained how they were no better than the next person, but were just running for the same position.
So much negative campaigning it caused Grover Cleveland to fess up to fathering an illegitimate child marked the presidential elections of 1884. Cleveland had put the child in an orphanage years earlier. Negative campaigning is a part of life.
It is a reality that we are all humans with tremendous fl aws. Pretending to run a soft campaign without hard hitting questions is actually detrimental to you, the voter.
You need to know how different these candidates are. You need to understand the differences in people’s characters. You need to know who you should vote for. So, several allegations are made and a campaign is derailed. This is the rough world we live in and thus we have to pay the price of watching politicians duke it out.
