Posted by
Katie Favazza on Thursday, February 22, 2007 2:17:40 PM
Things are heating up
way too early for the 2008 election.
Regarding schedule conflicts of various candidates and the Iraq vote last week,
David Broder writes:
Joe Biden and John McCain were both supposed to spend the day in
Iowa; Hillary Clinton, in New Hampshire; Chris Dodd, in South Carolina;
Barack Obama, in South Carolina and Virginia; and Sam Brownback, in
Florida.
It's only February of 2007, but from the schedules these
presidential hopefuls -- and their rivals -- are keeping, you would
think the primaries were almost upon us. Plenty of campaign consultants
were aggravated that Reid was inconsiderate enough to let a little
matter such as the Iraq war intrude on their important work of getting
their candidates elected -- next year.
He continues:
The Democrats are mostly to blame for this mad rush to judgment, but
neither party has tried seriously to apply the brakes. Their indulgence
of this breakneck competition among the states means that someone is
likely to put a death grip on each party's nomination before most
Americans have begun to size up his or her capacity to be president.
The second consequence is a numbingly long general election campaign: a
nine-month marathon that leaves contenders and voters exhausted.
It
also drives the cost of the election right through the ceiling -- and
makes the candidates spend untold hours courting those with the wealth
to finance their campaigns. Serious students of the process proclaim
this to be the first billion-dollar election and predict the old system
of partial public financing, with its spending controls, will be
shattered to bits by the runaway money chase.
I highly recommend that you read the rest of the column
here.
Everything today is happening sooner, costing more, and frankly, wasting time. I overheard someone today say that 99% of what's on the blogs is trivial--that even if it matters today, it will be forgotten tomorrow. In many cases, I think that's true.
Edwards' bloggers made news that resounded beyond the blogosphere when they crossed the line with their anti-Catholic comments, but will anyone besides bloggers remember in a month or two? I'd bet not.
Will McCain's trip to California to hold hands with the tree-loving Governator matter to anyone by June? I'm not convinced it will have a long-term impact on his appeal in The Golden State or anywhere else for that matter.
The problem is, of course, that the candidates are already racing to the finish line--and the old and new media alike have no choice but to jog alongside them. So what's an everyday citizen to do?
Take a deep breath. Read/watch/listen to the news and the pundits of your choice. But remember that it's still early and you'd be a fool to think what's in the paper or on YouTube/the blogs/the radio today is the end-all, be-all for the not-so-upcoming election.
That said, I'm off to go read more about what these clowns are up to... and you'll be hearing more about it whether you like it or not.
Sigh.