Out Of Ideas

The action is coming quickly now. We used to talk about twenty-four hour news cycles. Now things seem to be changing on the hour. Last night's debate is so yesterday. A speech in the morning is superseded by an attack or response ad in the afternoon. A poll in one state garners attention until another one comes along just minutes later.

The world is spinning at incredible speed. While we sleep, foreign markets seem to be melting down. The Dow is down in the morning but up in early afternoon trading. A bomb blast in Iraq catches our attention until we hear about civilians being killed in Afghanistan.

With so much happening it would seem that the presidential campaigns would have more than enough on their hands to fill their advertisements, speeches, and advocates' appearances on cable talk shows. But for at least one campaign, John McCain's, the real life tragedies are no longer relevant.

Recently, a top McCain aide admitted that if the focus remained on the terrible economic news his candidate would lose the election. True to his words, the campaign with the able help of Sarah Palin, has gone on an irrelevant tangent, targeting Obama's inconsequential brief association with Chicago educator William Ayers. Using Ayers as a jumping point, Palin and to some degree McCain himself, have tried to paint the Illinois Senator as dangerous to America.

The amazing thing is that in past elections, such low- down techniques do get traction, causing doubt about the attacked candidate. But not this time. The always reliable Gallup Poll has shown consistent growth for Obama until this very day when the Democrat has now reached an 11% point lead over McCain.

Based on his debate performances and stump speeches, Senator McCain has shown that he is not in touch with the fast moving serious domestic and foreign issues that now confront us. Totally devoid of positive ideas, the Republican tag team is throwing out invectives that are designed to stir racial hatred. Thankfully, at least at this moment, the American public has shown itself to be too smart for such gutter warfare.

No one should tell Senator McCain to not stop fighting for this election. But do it on the issues, and if he loses, at least he will not have polarized such a large percentage of the population that it will seethe at any ideas brought up by a new President Obama. Our myriad problems are serious and an honest discussion is needed. Anything less demeans all of us and will cause more turmoil in the future.