Friday, July 20, 2012

Unclear

John Sununu called the President and his campaign "a bunch of liars" on Tuesday. He told reporters Obama "comes out of that murky political world in Chicago where politician and felony has become synonymous." John may be working from a different thesaurus than I am, but I suppose I get his drift. This summer certainly brings to mind some of the murkiest of the murk from Chicago and other less-than-polite election cycles, but then Mister Sununu piled on with "I wish this president would learn how to be an American."
What is more American than dirty politics? We seem to be in the midst of a spitting contest where the contestants seem intent on standing face to face. What possible good comes from pointing out the other candidates' perceived flaws? Are there truly undecided voters out there who will be swayed by a clever thirty seconds of TV advertising? What happened to polite discourse? How about the fair exchange of ideas?
That's not going to happen in a win or lose environment. Somewhere at the bottom of all of this murk lies a plan for our country that involves compromise and a shared concern for all of us. Billions of dollars are not currently being spent to find that solution, but instead we have murk-spattered veterans and rookies showing up for what appears to be a four-month long Celebrity Death Match. Buy your tickets and find your seats, ladies and gents, it's going to be a murky ride to November.

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