Something is becoming more and more apparent to me as this election goes on. Given the profiles of our candidates, there is ample room for assumptions to be made, whether they are accurate or not.
From the start of his presidential campaign, Sen. Barack Obama has had a tough time with criticisms of both his past and current beliefs. One of the most dramatic has been concerning Obama's faith.
Some say he was raised as a Muslim. Some say that he truly is a Muslim to this day. Obama has spared no effort or expense to distance these rumors from his campaign. He has gone so far as to launch an entirely new campaign Web site simply to try to dispel the rumors. Is this a fair topic of discussion? Absolutely. It has often been said that all is fair in love and war. I feel that more often than not, politics, too, belongs in this category.
Sen. John McCain has issues with distance as well.
Throughout his presidential campaign, people have been trying to frame him as just four more years of the Bush presidency. McCain is probably fighting this accusation every bit as Obama is fighting the Muslim accusations. But where do these rumors come from? What kind of an impact could they have on the election?
They can get dangerous very quickly. People are more and more associating every aspect of a party or an ideal with a member of that party. People associate the beliefs of a group with every single member of that group. It is simply not always the case. Someone's past does not always determine their future, and people deserve a chance to be seen free of rumors and accusations, which likely have very little merit or credibility. One way to escape these rumors is for candidates, as well as voters, to move to the center of the political aisle.
More and more voters are leaving the edges of the political spectrum, choosing rather to come to the center. They are declaring themselves independents, free of the binding chains that party membership entails. By declaring that you are independent, you essentially shrug off all of the people who want to corner you on your beliefs. As the number of people calling themselves independents expands, so also is the definition of an independent voter. It seems to be becoming more rare by the day, the people who stand fiercely for one party or the other. It seems limited to only the Michael Moores and Ann Coulters of the political world, and those who are as far to the edge as they are.
Removing the tags people do not put on themselves is critical if we are going to have a fair vote this year. By fair, I mean in the sense that we vote for people as we see them, not the way someone else does. To say that you could never support a candidate because of obscure connections they might have is ignorant and damaging to the political process. In this same way, dismissing a candidate based solely on their party is unwise.
In this election season, try to look at candidates without their titles and the baggage associated with the titles. You may come away surprised. When I have looked at candidates based on their actions, I have often come away surprised at my decisions.
This election deserves clear-minded assessments of the candidates, and the current independent political landscape might offer us this window that the media is denying us.
Write to Alex atapcarroll@bsu.edu
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