At It Again

After watching El Presidente and Mittens go at it again in round two, I walked away thoroughly unimpressed by either. I'm glad Obama hit Mitt back this time, calling him out on some of his egregious lies, but Obama told some fibs of his own, and didn't do any better providing policy details. If you were just tuning in for the first time you would think neither Obama nor Romney had a real plan, and perhaps that is the case.

More than anything, last night's debate made me sad. After the first debate I was concerned about Romney's momentum, but now I'm concerned about the state of American politics. Last night both Romney and Obama took the opportunity to rehash talking points and bash each other without talking about facts or details. Both men pettily stooped to pointing out that the other isn't perfect. Neither was very specific about details, and rather than provide them, both took time pointing out that the other didn't really have any.

It would have been refreshing if either of them had actually answered the questions they were asked. Obama completely sidestepped a question about security in Libya. To his credit, he took responsibility for what happened, but in a roundabout manner that did not address the question at all. Romney, when asked about assault weapons, somehow found himself talking about single parent households and strengthening marriage. If only we had a lower divorce rate, we would have fewer guns. It all makes perfect sense.

Worst of all is the way they talk to the audience. They are patronizing. Listening made me feel like I was a third grader who had just stolen a pack of gum. Part of this has to do with the fact that they both apparently think we are in third grade. Does no one notice that neither of them really says much of substance? If I designed a drinking game around taking a shot every time either candidate gave a real vision for America's future I would have been one sober guy. Both, of them excel at being belittling each in his own way. Obama gets off topic and rambles about his achievements. Romney is worse, he seems to think talking last makes him right, and when he finds himself in a sticky spot he just talks about how is a job creator and reflects on that time he was governor without really saying what he did as governor.

This is what we're left we're left with. This is what has become of politics. I imagine if I had listened to that debate and missed the facial expressions, hand gestures, and posture that I probably would have thought I was listening to a bunch of middle school kids arguing about which one is cooler. Is this our fault? Does the American electorate demand such insipidness from our politicians? I know both Obama and Romney have some ideas, I assume they even have many in common. Why won't they talk about them?


Put simply, our political system is near defunct. Our politicians care more about poll data than policy, prefer talking points to ideas, would rather blast each other for real and perceived failures than take an intellectual and moral risk by proposing something substantive for the future. To his credit, Paul Ryan actually does have a detailed policy when it comes to the budget, problematically, those details are scary and the plan is bad.

As American citizens we need to demand more. We need to demand facts, not lies. We need to demand ideas, not condemnations. If we are going to fix our nation's problems, we need to start by fixing our nation's politics.