Change?

Obama has now been called a racist, a misogynist (or sexist), and an ageist (here, and here). These examples are just some of the hundreds of times I have heard these claims recently (and really throughout this long 2 year process).

If I weren't already disillusioned by politics, now would be the time. Really, I don't know what is more disappointing: (1) that news stations even cover this NONSENSE, (2) that people actually believe it, or (3) that politicians think that this is a decent way to win elections. I'm not, by any means, saying that these things (racism, and all the -isms you can think of) don't exist; I'm simply saying that they are only used as distractions in these campaigns. I personally don't think either Obama or McCain are -ists of any sort. I think they're both great guys. The thing that makes the difference for me is where they stand on the issues. Unfortunately, we don't seem to get anywhere near this terrain anymore because the candidates are always defending themselves against personal attacks.

In hearing that Obama had the best month for donations in August (with around $66 million receieved, with at least half a million new donors), I began to wonder whether I should be excited about this or not. I mean $66 million will buy a lot of publicity and pay a lot of workers, but I began to ask myself: Will it be paying for the same personal attack crap that we have been seeing for the past several months? I really hope that Obama's "change" starts now with some campaigning that rises above the useless (an utterly inane) brand that American has been privy to for the last decade. If not, that is a lot of money to spend on ads that attack one person, and continue to derail the focus on issues that affect a lot of people. (In fact, that money could probably go to a lot of people that really need it).

My proposal: Prohibit presidential campaigning to no more than six months before election day. This should be enough time to vet candidates through the primary process, have some small conventions, and a couple of debates before the big day, and not so long that millions of dollars are wasted on coming up with shit to talk about and throw at each other's opponents.