Jessica
Vozel
Read Jessica's bio and previous columns here
April 1, 2008
Presidential Campaign
Turns Dull, So My Attention Turns to American Idol
On
the surface, the race to the 2008 presidential election seems to be at
the peak of intrigue, scandal and excitement. The Pennsylvania primary
is approaching. Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton have both had some
explaining to do in recent weeks, whether that explaining involved their
own slips of the tongue or those of their advocates.
Pundits are in a frenzy. They are seizing on every detail for extensive
analysis, so much so that another college student attending a
Chelsea Clinton Q&A decided to ask her about Monica Lewinsky, likely
because he or she was aiming for the 15 minutes of fame given to the
first questioner. The campaign looks as much like the Super Bowl for the
politically aware as it ever did.
And yet something seems off. Suddenly, the latest candidate slip-up or
attack ad is becoming, well, boring. Nothing short of a sex
scandal can shock the average American anymore. Those states that have
already had the primary wave wash over them have returned to voting for
American Idol contestants, in all their mind-numbed glory. Their
Obama and Clinton lawn signs, once meticulously cared for, are now
leaning in the wind.
This primary lull – although the primaries are still going strong –
favors no party and is not unique to the 2008 campaign. But what are the
consequences? For the candidates, it’s the depressing knowledge that, as
with early rounds of American Idol contestants, the American
people are not tuning in to see an inspiring performance but rather the
latest marginally entertaining screw-up.
Republican nominee John McCain should be riding high on a wave of
support from his party, building his campaign and generating excitement
as the Republican Party’s next superstar. Not so. Although Republicans
are divided in their support and dislike for McCain, which alone
should liven up the lull, his campaign and his demeanor are a
regular snooze-fest. What was once an exciting, diverse pool of
potential Republican nominees has been dwindled down to just one man
with whom many in the party are not so enthralled. Instead, the
Republicans are more interested in watching Clinton and Obama tear each
other down.
Clinton and Obama, at the same time, are losing their respective
positions as the Democratic Party’s saviors. For Obama, this is
especially troubling because he, until recently, looked to be the most
messianic of the two candidates. Now, regular old on-the-fence Americans
(as opposed to his gung-ho campaign staff and ardent supporters) are
becoming numb to Obama’s message of “hope.” One can only hear the same
lines so many times before they lose their spark. If Obama was an
American Idol contestant, the average American would phone in for
him once or twice but disconnect their auto-dialer.
Another, perhaps overlooked, party affected by the primary lulls are the
states who have yet to vote. For them, having a boring primary season is
par for the course – very often the nominees are decided by this point
and thus their votes are merely symbolic. But this year, Pennsylvania –
among other states – has the opportunity to make a clear impact on the
political process. But while Pennsylvanians in the Democratic Party are
registered in record-breaking numbers, the rest of the country is kind
of bored with it all. It’s their moment in the sun – but their vote
still doesn’t seem to hold as much weight as those in Texas and
Ohio. This, of course, says something about America’s political process
in general, but that’s another topic altogether.
While this phenomenon is not unique to 2008, one wonders if the 24-hour
saturation of news and commentary in the technological age has somehow
contributed to it. When news networks scramble to fill hours and hours
of airtime, of course they will seize on the most mundane details and
make them seem as explosive as possible. That works for a while, but
eventually, Americans catch on, get annoyed with it all and flip the
channels to something more genuinely dramatic.
So, with all of that said, I’ve decided that, instead of spending any
more time thinking about the 2008 election, I’m going to tear up my
voter registration card and devote all of my attention to the remaining
nine American Idol candidates. Voting for America’s next singing
superstar is a much more noble pursuit than choosing its next
president.
(In some ways I wish I were serious, but: April Fools!)
© 2008
North Star Writers Group. May not be republished without permission.
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