Pablumizing the Presidency

In the most recent "Knight Rider" television show (NBC), the artificially intelligent car, Kit, observes that "many public servants regularly deceive their constituents yet remain in office." Such a shocking revelation from one with no "skin in the game."

In Friday night's first Presidential debate, Jim Lehrer (PBS) continually tried to get each candidate to reveal how the current economic crisis would change their announced spending plans--and neither man would. Standard political theater: candy first, castor oil later.

What I wish I would have heard:

Mr. Obama: After years of deregulation and a costly war we should have never begun, the economy is in a mess, folks. And we need to do something to keep our economy afloat—which may mean pumping federal dollars into multiple levels—the banking industry, wall street, and to struggling taxpayers who were victimized by unscrupulous lending practices.

And these federal dollars have to come from somewhere.

John McCain thinks we need to continue to wage wars—that we must be safe before we can be prosperous. And I don’t disagree with the premise—but after thousands of our men and women killed or maimed, billions of dollar spend—are we any more secure? Especially if we define security more broadly—to include economic security—are you feeling more secure???

All throughout the primary season, I’ve been putting forth the thing’s I’d like to get done during my administration—and my position hasn’t changed on any of them.

But our current economic situation has changed; we need to make sure our national priorities are reflected in our budget. Some hard choices need to be made.

But folks, this is YOUR MONEY. You should have a say in how it’s spent.

So it’s your decision—as we stand before you, candidates to be your President—whose values, judgment, and priorities reflect yours. Choices will need to be made, and the foremost one will be made by YOU in November.

And then, Mr. McCain could have responded with reasons to continue funding the war over domestic programs, but how other spending could be cut.

Honestly looking into the eye of the electorate, and treating us as sentient beings. We can be given meat to chew and digest; we may even get a stomach ache. But we cannot reach an informed decision with a steady diet of rice cereal coming forth from the campaign offices.

We insist that our candidates reflect the values of their respective parties--so John McCain brings on a rabidly rightest running mate with less foreign policy experience than the Olympic volleyball team. Am I to believe the the 2008 version of John McCain will stand up to Osama BinLaden when he won't stand up to James Dobson??

Mr. McCain IS an American Hero; we cannot nor should not deny him that designation. But THAT John McCain took decisive action and stood his ground. Today's John McCain is making knee-jerk decisions (VP choice, suspend the campaign until an agreement is reached, cancel the debate until an agreement is reached . . . .) We don't need a knee-jerk President.

Mr. Obama followed up his debate performance with a campaign ad that explains his position on the bailout a bit more clearly:



With as large a viewing audience as was watching, why couldn't he just have laid that out to us in the debate? Certainly, Mr. McCain could have rebutted (which an ad doesn't allow), and Jim Lehrer would have pressed for details--but we want to see a President who can lead us through an argument line by line while under fire.

Gentlemen, you both get high marks for being politicians; neither of you gave a convincing performance as a President.