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Student warns against following empty rhetoric

By Guest Columnist Joey Baertschi

Throughout this election the American people have been saturated in rhetoric from Both the Obama and McCain campaigns. Whether the buzz words are experience, change, honor or hope, both sides claim they have it and the other doesn’t. There’s good reason for this, it is hard to get people to vote based on the policies they’d like to see enacted because the public opinion is so volatile.

The average American has no desired telos for their ideologies, but rather has a dynamic sense of what they might want to see accomplished sometime in the near future. This is exactly why politicians try to instead appeal to the public’s more reliable sense of ethics and optimism; if they prove to the people that they are truly the “cure for what ails ya” comprehensive solution to America’s problems, they’ll win the election. John and Barack are trying to win votes with rhetoric, not policy, and quite frankly it’s driving me insane. I was relatively apathetic in the past presidential elections that have occurred in my life. 2004, however, was when I first noticed a lack of substance in politicians. The empty rhetoric started with the Republicans’ constant talk of national security, traveled all the way through John Kerry’s flip flops and W’s grades at Yale and ended somewhere with Bush winning re-election. Whether I supported John Kerry or George Bush is irrelevant. What is relevant is that it doesn’t matter who voters support. Both sides amount to nothing more than empty suites.

Obama is a poised, savvy, smooth, intellectual elite who knows how to change America for the better. McCain is an experienced maverick and a war hero that has done his best to be bipartisan during his six centuries in Senate. Neither, according to the other, has enough experience or is enough of an outsider to deserve the presidency, but come November, America will have to decide who is going to sit in the oval office until January 2012. The fact that election remains in a dead heat indicates that either America really does have a practically perfect cleavage between Democrats and Republicans, or that the average American still isn’t really sure for who they are going to vote, or, most likely, a combination of both.

Since both sides are so convinced the other is bad, I believe we should not vote based on the talking points and the rhetoric of the politicians but instead on the current state of our country.

Got Voice? To write your own column and have your voice heard, contact the student section editor at [email protected]

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  • T

    ToniOct 5, 2008 at 10:05 am

    How many years experience does McCain have? 6 CENTURIES? Wow,he is old.

    Reply
  • S

    SamOct 5, 2008 at 9:55 am

    You don’t think we should vote based on the candidates’ ideas (“talking points” as you call them)? How else are we supposed to make a decision? You say we should base our vote solely on the current state of our country and not on the candidates’ ideas– Well, that doesn’t really make sense. It’s not logical or possible and that’s not how elections work. We have to listen to the candidates’ ideas in order to decide which one is more capable of improving upon the “current state of our country.”

    I’m also perplexed about the fact that you seem angry about both candidates thinking “the other is bad.” That’s how campaigns work. They’re not supposed to agree with each other. That’s why they are OPPONENTS. You say, “Neither, according to the other, has enough experience or is enough of an outsider to deserve the presidency.” Well, of course they are not going to admit if one is more experienced than the other! Why would they? It’s strange how much you dislike the competition between them when campaigns are all about competition.

    One last thing– You say, “It doesn’t matter who voters support.” I don’t know if this was your intention with this column, but it seems like you are telling people that this election is pointless. Your priorities seem a little out of wack especially considering you are a political buff. You subtly say we should not listen to candidates’ ideas and then you say it doesn’t matter who we support? That seems almost misanthropic.

    I’m not trying to be mean-spirited with this comment and I hope you don’t take my criticisms the wrong way, I’m just perplexed about your priorities in this column and am hoping you could elaborate on them.

    Reply
  • N

    Nick CooperOct 4, 2008 at 7:16 pm

    I don’t understand the goal of this column. The final words of advice “vote… on the current state of our country.” are ambigious and vague. Is Baertschi suggesting that the American public not research all of the various stances and positions taken by the candidates on the most important issues? If so, then voting based on the current state of our country would limit the full characterization of candidates to their specific parties. For example if the country was doing poorly under democratic leadership, according to Baertschi, Barrack Obama should not be elected to office, despite the possibility that he is a better candidate.

    It is important for voters to listen to the rhetoric of those seeking office. Understanding every aspect of the candidate as a possible leader is essential in truly selecting the best leader for our country. Not listening to rhetoric unfortunately limits the voter from comprehending the full picture of any one running for public office

    Reply