The Importance of Being Earnest
by Kim Dannies
September 2008
"In America the President reigns for four years, and Journalism governs forever and ever." -Oscar Wilde
It took an historic economic hissyfit this past week to get critical Presidential campaign issues back on to the front pages. After weeks of ridiculous sandbox bullying over hairstyles and lipstick, politicians and the press are finally paying attention to a new play in the works called "The Demise of the Un-tied States of America." We have got to pull it together, People! We need to demand more substance from our media reporting, more from our conversations with colleagues and friends, and more from our government and political process. I don't care who you are voting for- we are all in deep doo-doo here, my friends, and need to be better informed at this critical juncture. An immediate remedy is to pay closer attention and participate more earnestly in this important election process and NOT allow the media to elect the next leader of the free world via sounds bites.
Although it's easy to perk up a campaign with a Sarah Palin maneuver, citizens do not particularly like the prominence of personality over a solid platform and performance. Political campaigns today seem more like theater or entertainment than something to be taken seriously.
According to Thomas Patterson, Bradlee Professor of Government & Press at Harvard University's John F. Kennedy School of Government "In the 1950s and 1960s, control of election campaigns shifted rapidly from the political parties to the candidates, largely because of television and refinements in techniques of mass persuasion. Americans were initially thrilled by the chance for a close-up look at the candidates and their campaigns. Theodore H. White's The Making of the President, 1960, topped the best-seller list.
Now, however, Americans have come to dislike nearly everything about modern campaigns. The new style has brought out aspects of politics that were once largely out of sight. Ambition, manipulation, and deception have become as prominent as issues of policy and leadership. Elections are supposed to energize the electorate. They are not supposed to ruin one's appetite, but that's the best way to understand much of what Americans now see during a campaign and why they don't have much taste for it."
We'd better come to the table quickly. We can't be hiding out at the Food Channel when we need to Meet The Press. How do we get this conversation out of the closet and contribute to a meaningful electoral process today?