By Blair Donald
Round Table broadcast studio producer
The recent Republican debates have been full of drama and controversy. From the lame dance moves of Michelle Bachmann to the sexual harassment scandal of Herman Cain, the candidates have faced a myriad of problems. However, all this drama has distracted from the focus of the debates: the candidates’ positions on the issues.
I don’t care if Mitt Romney is a Morman. I didn’t care about Clinton’s Monica Lewinsky scandal or if Obama is a Muslim, which Obama stated was not true. With today’s news cycles hyping the unimportant details, the issues get clouded and people begin to vote for the person, not the politician. I realize that sounds harsh, but the nicest people in the world could also be awful at foreign policy.
That isn’t to say that details about a person’s character are not important. If Cain is not a respectable person, then he probably would not make a great president. If a person running for president uses drugs or cheats, then he or she is probably not the best person to represent the country.
These social details aren’t the most important thing in a presidential race, however. If the personality of a candidate overshadows his or her political platform, then the race has become superficial and the best politician may not get elected.
My point is that the focus of the presidential races seems to be losing focus. They aren’t meant to be about candidates’ sordid pasts; they’re meant to be about figuring out who is the best person to be the political leader and worldwide representative for the country.
If a politician does something morally horrendous or illegal, then there should be some news coverage. Nixon’s Watergate scandal was an example of a politician gone awry and, accordingly, it was reported to the public.
Nowadays, though, we seem to get caught up in conspiracy theories and superficial stories. Obama’s biggest controversy to date was his birth certificate’s legitimacy. Of course his birth certificate was legitimate. The fact that it took three years of his presidency to finally let that go is astounding.
As a nation, we seem to get caught up in the superficial. We love to gossip. More people know about Kim Kardashian’s 72-day marriage than about legislation that recently passed in Ohio that saved worker unions. We get caught up in the unimportant, and in presidential elections, that can be dangerous.
