Speaking out

Just thought I’d use this blog to reminds everyone that Elizabeth Edwards will be speaking on-campus tonight at 8:15 as part of the Breastival. While she will be speaking about her personal battle with breast cancer, it got me thinking about presidential candidates and their wives. Some people have accused Elizabeth Edwards of being more outspoken and harsh than her husband, saying the things it wouldn’t be so politically correct for him to say (see: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/09/26/AR2007092601866.html). What do you guys think about this? Should candidates use the people around them to say what they can’t, or should everyone stay on the same message?

When I Grow Up, I'm Going to Be the President of the United States

Today, when I sat down to relentlessly scour through the internet in search of political fuss, I decided to start at the most obvious place – The Washington Post. To my delight, I stumbled upon a handful of interesting clips from several Democratic Presidential Candidate debates (and by “interesting” I mean they were sub par as far as entertainment goes). The clips were, however, very informative, and it is always fascinating to me how candidates interact with each other during a debate. Sometimes, you could cut the tension with a knife. And when they disagree with each other, or discuss the way their plan of action severely deviates from that of the person to their right, I can’t help but laugh. They are forced with the awareness of onlookers to go about doing it ever so politely, almost through gritted teeth.
What I found most interesting about the debates that I watched, and something that I hadn’t noticed before, was each and every candidate’s tendency to discuss their future in the White House as if it was a definite. Using phrases like “when I am in office” and “when I am inaugurated in January of 2009,” they each made it seem as if they had already been elected. At one point in one of the videos, the candidates were discussing their intended approach for exiting Iraq if elected, former Senator John Edwards began to say “if I am elected in 2009” but quickly corrected himself and stated “when” instead. Is this some sort of strategy that I’m missing the point of? One could argue that they’re attempting to exude confidence, but honestly, I think it’s rather distracting when I’m trying to learn about their objectives for my nation’s future. Give the self-assurance a rest and focus on trying to convince me that you deserve my vote.