Politics as Usual

Were you excited when John McCain and Barack Obama – two politicians that don’t fit the typical Republican and Democratic mold – became the nominees? Did it excite you that two Senators who often go with their gut and were popular with both the public and the media have an opportunity to become the world’s most powerful person? Did you expect a fresh start and an invigorated campaign that rivaled Lincoln/Douglas or Weld/Kerry here in Massachusetts?

What has struck me so far is just how boring the campaign has been. Everything has been typical so far – negative ads, attacking the other candidate and adherence to general talking points. McCain, who had a reputation as a maverick who bucks the party platform, is now talking in sound bites and endlessly referring to his POW stint – the same way Kerry endlessly referred to his time as a Vietnam veteran. Why on earth are both men trying to convince voters to judge them through those contexts? Is that the criteria in which they’ll make their decisions?

You’d think all Obama would need to do is talk to voters directly and use the same inspirational rhetoric that worked so well for him before, especially now that more Americans are paying attention to this. Nope. He’s too busy retreating into standard candidate mode – attacking without offering alternatives, saying what he’d do without telling people who he is, and making the campaign about himself instead of the voters. This may work for a standard politician, but Obama didn’t gain his success by going the well-traveled route.

My guess is that both candidates are too busy listening to the myriad pollsters, consultants and, worst of all, the party leaders who are giving them conflicting opinions on how to win. This has resulted in a pedestrian race, and I’m unsurprised both men are tied in the polls. They need to shrug off the conventional advice and go with their gut more. They didn’t win the nomination by being ordinary, and it’s a shame that both campaigns are exceedingly vanilla so far.