Like many other people in the country, now that election time is drawing near, I’ve been watching hour after hour of political debates, and listening to the pundits on CNN tell me who was going to win, who was going to lose and then trying to rationalize their reasons for being wrong once it was over.
While the political circus has given me a few more insights into the views of each of the candidates, I usually find the mud-slinging and animosity to be the one thing that sticks with me the most. Instead of helping me decide who I want to vote for, the debacle usually leaves me with the impression that all of the candidates are popular high school girls, battling it out for prom queen, but instead of calling each other fat or easy, they are accusing each other of having too little experience, a soft stance on immigration, being racists, or, my personal favorite, bad fashion sense. (I guess that one works in both cases.)
That’s why I was so pleasantly surprised on Monday when one candidate called for an end to all the mud-slinging and squabbling. Senator Barack Obama spoke in a news conference and actually said moderately pleasant things about his competitors. I kept waiting and waiting for the other shoe to drop and the criticizing to begin, but much to my amazement, that has not yet been the case.
Even more amazing was the fact that instead of arguing with Obama’s request for some sort of truce, other candidates, like Hillary Clinton, quickly jumped on the band wagon, and for the first time in – I’m guessing – the history of the world, the candidates have agreed that they are on the same side.
For several days now, I’ve been waiting for someone to make the sneak attack. You see, if you have ever been witness to a truce called on a school playground, you know that you only call a truce to throw the other person off guard before giving them a fist to the stomach – but so far the name-calling behavior seems to be at a minimum.
I’m not sure what brought about the sudden change. It could have been a change of heart, listening to the fact that the voters are sick of this garbage, alien abduction, a visit from the ghost of Christmas Future or maybe the candidates are just making nice so when a running mate needs to be picked, it won’t be quite as awkward, but whatever the reason, I’m glad to see some presidential candidates getting back to the issues and away from the drama, even if it’s just for a little while.