It seems that every presidential election that comes by I have a whole new perspective on life, our nation and the political process. Four years is just a number until there are recurring events to put that amount of time in perspective. I feel as if the way I view the world at this presidential election as opposed to the last is incomparable. A combination of journalism major with a poli sci minor has sharpened by awareness to a point where I view political coverage today with a hyper sensativity and suspicious awareness about what the media and candidates are telling me. With that ability I have felt that this latest contest for our next Chief Executive has been especially shallow. I often feel as if my heightened, alomst paranoid awareness as to the flaws of our news system and new dysfunctional trends in politics has stemmed primarily from my education. Even more so, that anyone exposed to the progressive teachings of a liberally acclimated institution like the University of Colorado will be doomed to these low persepctives of our political and news infrastructures for the rest of our lives. However, after watching this Wednesday's democratic debate I in fact know that there is grounded reality for the direction our media is headed in.
My roomate started up the debate on YouTube in our living room this morning and listening to it from the other room I was quickly keen to the words reverberating through the house. For the first 10 minutes I can remember listening, the moderators George Stephanopoulos and Charlie Gibson asked some of the most irrelevant questions I have ever heard spoken at a political debate function. From Hillary's exxagerated accounts of the dangers faced in her Bosnian visit, to questioning why Obama doesn't wear a flag on his suit, it seemed that an immense amount of time was spent on issues having nothing to do with presidential policies or pertinent political issues. Stephanopoulos later called these questions 'electibility questions' which he believed very important to the political process. In reality 'electibility questions' are incidental, minor issues that have little to do with the overarching leadership qualities of the candidates and our petty attempts to highlight controversy and boost voetship. The cutting edge blogging super center the
The HuffingtonPost has a great collection of stories on the issue as well as immense comment feedback from everyday Americans. Politics sucks.
