Please Save Me From Political Pundits

Oh Lord, please save me. Because of the cycle we are in, that is the presidential campaign which started three years ago and has almost a year to run before the new cycle begins, I wake up each day and dread turning on the radio or logging into in my computer. Everyday from now until November talking heads will continue to tell us how we are going to make our decision as to who should be the next president of this glorious country. But now, there is a quirk that no one saw coming. Imagine the pain.

Mr/Miss political pundit, you are paid a lot of money, you are provided a large staff and you have all the computing power anyone could ask for unless you were trying to put a man on the moon. People tune in to hear so that you can tell them what they are thinking. Your listeners do not know how they should really analyze the candidates and the issues but you have the power to see the forest while your listeners are only seeing trees. You certainly want us to thing you have insight ... when will you use your access to actually provide a real service?

As a side note since New Hampshire, this is now the second best story ... the fact that people actually change their minds after they tell the pollsters what they thing right now. The first story at the top of the hour is still Mr. / Miss Pundit telling us what our next decision will be.

While this illustrious crew of soothsayers are providing this service of telling us what we think, they are forgetting what their real job is supposed to be. We get no discussion of real issues. We get is what the candidate did in grade school or college. We get nonsense about their opinion on the Lord and what how the Lord would decide. This is because only a person with the right connection to the Lord would be able to govern the country. Candidates tell us generalities. What kind of generalities? You remember back in school when you had to write a book report and you forgot to read the book. The report you turned in was one and a half typewritten pages that said what a nice book it was and how the characters were so well developed, the plot intriguing and definitely a book that everyone should read. If your teacher was nice you got a “C” for effort. Our candidates get that same C.

Has any candidate told us how they will get Congress to pass any legislation they are discussing? Have they told you what spending they will cut in order to pay for the new programs they are touting? Have they told you what they will do about the Bush tax cuts that expire in 2010? As for this last item, if they say they will let them expire it will be a $1.9trillion tax increase and if they continue them it will be $1.9 trillion dollars that must be found … anyone know where you can find $1.9 trillion dollars?

If Clinton tells you that she will produce health care reform, which she and her husband could not do when they had both houses of Congress, ask her how she will get it through this time. When Mrs. Clinton tells you about her experience which qualifies her for the presidency, please ask her how sleeping with the governor / president was meaningful experience? Ask her how doing some volunteer legal work when she got out law school is transferable experience? Please tell us Mrs. Clinton how you will produce change when you have not really done anything?

But if you wonder where I stand … please Mr. Barack could you please tell us how you will get the 535 members of Congress to change their ways. Why will your nice thoughts turn into meaningful legislation? Yes, it is nice to say you will sit down with world leaders and talk things out. Could you please tell us how your nice thoughts will convince dictators who truly want us all dead that we should work together to make the world a beautiful place. Since you use the line that experience is not all that its cracked up to be … remember Cheney and Rumsfeld all that experience and it got us what? Your experience is not meaningful and when you invoke President Kennedy and his lack of experience … remember he brought us to the brink of war with the USSR over Cuba. In addition, Kennedy’s accomplishments came after he died.

I don’t want to give the impression that these are the only candidates … similar questions could be asked of all the candidates.

Alas, the pundits don’t ask the real questions. These pundits talk to 5,000 people to find 800 who are willing to answer some questions to project how 1,000,000 will vote. All this presumes that people answer honestly. All this presumes that if I ask you a question on Saturday, I will know how you will vote on Tuesday. Pundits are trying to hit a moving target and what they forget is that life is moving faster each and everyday.

Each time your going to make a prediction, Mr / Miss Pundit … remember Truman / Dewey … remember that six months ago Senator Clinton was the presumed nominee … after Iowa, her run was over … oops New Hampshire and now Obama is relegated to the back court. Then, there are the Republicans … Romney spends $7 million in Iowa sure to walk away with the state … oops who is this Huckabee? McCain is done for it … forget that he has spent the substantial time in New Hampshire and that back in 2000 that state went for him … oops McCain is the front runner.

Do any of you thing that in this day of different candidates and the internet that a small rural state like Iowa and another small rural state like New Hampshire both composed of few minorities will be meaningful indicators of how the entire country will decide. Does any one think that in this year when the nomination process will be substantially done the first week of February. All this will leave us with so little to do until the conventions in August and September. We will get to listen to all those all so smart pundits repeat themselves over and over and over saying the same thing endlessly.

So, please Mr / Miss Pundit … instead of trying to tell us how we are going to vote please ask and get answers to meaningful questions. Keep asking the questions until you get an answer.