Gather 'round my fellow Americans, with three weeks remaining before the presidential election, you are about to witness the campaign cock-fights of John McCain and Barack Obama. This inevitable precursor to the election officially began with a McCain campaign commercial that links Obama to Bill Ayers, leader of the 1960's Weather Underground terrorist group. Earlier this week, Vice President Nominee Sarah Palin made a reference to the relationship between these two men deeming it one example of Obama's bad judgment. Contrary to the McCain campaign claims, numerous articles from reputable news sources such as The New York Times and The Washington Post provide evidence which belabor the point that the two men are nothing more than acquaintances whose paths happened to cross on occasion.
Furthermore, if Obama's relationship with Ayers is questionable, has anyone ever considered the adage “keep your friends close, and your enemies closer?”
So, if the McCain campaign is exaggerating Obama's connection to Ayers on a false basis, what is the significance of the commercial? One Washington Post author, Chris Cillizza, suggests that McCain has opened “Pandora's Box” of slander, lying, vanity, and greed. This strategy is often reserved for times of desperation in one's campaign. With McCain lagging behind in the recent Gallup Polls, his campaign felt the need to start the mudslinging. Many perceive the commercial as an dishonorable effort by McCain to gain support. Rather than attract prospective voters, McCain's juvenile act will cost him in the upcoming election.
Leave it up to America to transform the process electing its future leader into a Hollywood soap opera. You know it is getting close to election time in the United States when the public veers away from the petty issues of our crashing economy and the endless War On Terror to focus on more important matters- each presidential candidate's personal life. Newspaper headlines are filled with gossip, television commercials reveal past discrepancies, and debates degenerate into bickering fests. Will this soap opera continue? I guess we will see in the upcoming weeks whether or not Obama will take the opportunity to restore some dignity to the name of politics.
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