Issues or Character?

I watched the Republican National Convention this past week. I sat through the speeches of Fred Thompson and Mitt Romney. I heard the shouts of “Drill, baby, drill!” I listened to the hatchet job, the mockery and the smears of Rudy Guliani’s keynote address. I watched and I listened to Gov. Sarah Palin accept her nomination as the first woman VP candidate. I listened to her additional mockery of Barack Obama and his community organizing experience in Chicago. I watched as she brought the house down with cheers and shouting, “USA!” Then finally, the next night I stayed up and watched John McCain give his rousing, inspiring acceptance speech for his presidential candidacy. I must admit I was impressed by his speech and all the other speeches that portrayed John McCain as an American hero. There could be no doubt that years of torture in a Vietnamese POW prison forged the man into a true American hero. I surely do not doubt his love for this country nor his patriotism. I too, rejoiced as the balloons and confetti fell on McCain, Palin and their families to the cheers of the convention crowd. I have to admit that it was a great speech.

Later, in the wake of the Republican National Convention, a wave of hopelessness washed over me. Someone from the McCain campaign stated that the election would be won on personality not the issues. The convention was short on the many issues that confront us but long on the personality of McCain and Palin. How indeed could Obama measure up to a true American hero and a political “maverick?” How could Biden possibly compare with the “gun-toting mother” and governor from the state of Alaska who can “field dress a moose?” As governor and commander–in-chief of the Alaska National Guard sitting on the border with Russia, who could dare to challenge her “foreign affairs experience.” And, do not forget...she is the first woman candidate for VP. McCain and Palin are larger than life personalities to be sure.

In a world where image often trumps substance, I wonder if America will bother to see beyond the Republican distractions, this negative campaign of smears, fear and lies. Will anyone listen to Obama and Biden’s message of hope and “Change We Can Believe In?” Will voters forget the eight long years under this current Republican administration and our nation’s slow, steady slide into the toilet? Will voters remember that John McCain voted with Bush 90% of the time or that he is willing to keep our forces in Iraq 100 years (at a cost of $10 billion a month)? Will post-Hillary women voters understand that Sarah Palin stands for zero exceptions for a woman’s right to choose when it comes to abortion—even in cases of rape, incest or to protect the life of the mother? I wonder if women even noticed there was nothing said by either candidate about protecting equal pay for women for equal work. Ah, but she is the first woman VP candidate ...so who cares. Drill, baby, drill!

I suppose it is more stirring, more patriotic somehow to hear about a brave American soldier and his sacrifice for God and Country than it is to hear about a young man who goes into a blighted inner city neighborhood to try to make changes and bring hope and prosperity to people without hope. Community organizers, like Obama, have worked for things like the 8-hour workday, equality, public transportation, healthcare for kids and safe neighborhoods, but who cares about stuff like that? Sarah and Rudy were right to make fun and mock Obama at the convention, I suppose, after all they do have “executive experience”...and Barack does not. Instead, Barack has had life experience. He has lived with his feet planted in both a black and a white world. He has lived in poverty and wealth. I guess Military service and political office trump all that people-to-people and human interaction stuff. Waving the flag is more exciting than discussing the issues.

Perhaps the McCain camp is correct. This election may be decided on personality rather than the issues. If you throw enough mud and dirty the waters so that the issues and the record of the past eight years are never discussed or debated fairly, then I guess it all does come down to... personality, but I cannot help thinking that character may be the deciding factor. What will be the character of each candidate’s campaign from this point on? More of the same or real change?

FOOD for THOUGHT...