Did anyone watch the presidential debate on Friday? I did, and I thought the candidates held their own pretty well although the debate didn’t change who I’m voting for. Some of the things the other side said sounded awesome I must admit, but when either candidate is elected, can they pull off the strategies they so solidly spoke of?
As I was watching the debate, I couldn’t really see how it was different from the last debate four years ago with John Kerry and George W. Bush. The only difference I could tell from the last debate was that the Republican seemed to do more of the attacking, and when I say attacking I mean not rolling over and letting his opponent end his talk time, this time around and there also didn’t seem to be so much down talk amongst the candidates which was nice.
The topics included the war, not only in Iraq but Afghanistan and Iran, the economy, energy, and government spending which could also be put into the economy but apparently was one of the “fundamental” reasons that everything seems to be going wrong right now. One candidate promised a plan that would free America from foreign oil in 10 years. Sounds wonderful right? Right. Too bad that’s what every presidential candidate for the last 50 years has been promising. Now if they could just pull it off, that would be another story.
After the debate I got to thinking, and what I came up with was a desire to know more about what’s going on in our country today. After we elect a president wouldn’t it be nice to actually know what is being improved and what isn’t? After all it seems like the only time we ever get a 411 on the status of the country is when the President gives a State of the Union address which is according to each one’s pleasure, or during a debate because a debate is the time to tell about results to reel people in. Personally, I think there should be a State of the Union address at least every six months just to let us know how things are going or maybe something not even as formal maybe something casual that doesn’t require a speechwriter. I know there is one every year but it doesn’t seem frequent enough. After all, Roosevelt’s fireside chats were incredibly helpful to his career and let people know what exactly he was doing with the power they gave him. Not to mention he gave them very frequently. How about some sort of article released every month on the status of the country? Sure, that would be a huge job but we just need big ideas not every detail. So can this enormous lack of information be fixed?
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3 comments:
I must first say that I am not that big into politics. I follow it from time to time, and, don't get me wrong, I love watching "The Daily Show" just to see what John Stewart has to say about the day's events. That being said, a day to day or even week to week update on what our government is thinking and doing would be both helpful and informative. It would provide a nice insight into the powers that be. With all the false promises being thrown around, it would be nice to see who has actually followed through on these promises. This is, of course, just a thought, but your post struck a chord with me. Very nice insight!
You both might want to visit the web site of the League of Women Voters, a non-partisan organization whose mission is to educate voters on the issues. They also have a site dedicated to the Presidential election this year, with the facts, presented in an unbiased way, about all the candidates and their positions. Another good source is Congressional Quarterly. Here is the web address for CQ:
http://corporate.cq.com/wmspage.cfm?parm1=12
I think the idea of having frequent updates as to what candidates are doing with their power is a good one. Like you mentioned FDR's fireside chats firmly cemented him as a popular president and someone who was accepted by both Democrats and Republicans. I guess the question is with the sort of television and internet coverage of politics could these chats be too closely scrutinized and have a negative effect of a president?
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