It's time for a public president

There’s something special about a presidential campaign. The candidates are so human.

It seems that too often, after a former candidate assumes office, he becomes this out-of-touch semi-human figure that stands behind a podium every now and then and shakes someone’s hand every now and then. Sure, we’ll hear about them attending major events, visiting important countries and vetoing important bills, but how many Americans can say on a even just a week to week basis what their leader is up to?

No longer is the President of the United States the leader of the people. That man has been replaced by a distant figure that lurks behind the scenes, poking his head out every now and again to remind us all to vote for him.

Instead, we look to the media for leadership.

Now I’m not trying to bash the media – hell, I’m a member of it. But the media should never be the leader of the people. The media should be a watchdog, to make sure that leader fulfills his responsibilities.

The next president needs to change this dynamic. And it wouldn’t be hard to do. As President Bush has said, being president is “hard.” But would it be out of line to ask our elected leader to talk to the people once a month? A once a year state of the Union address is no longer sufficient in an environment of 24-hour news networks and constantly updating websites (blogs?). How can we be expected to have faith in our leader if the only time we hear him is through media summaries? What if Bush had gone on a news program once a month? Ok. I know he’s an idiot and probably would have faired rather poorly, but even so, what if he had taken an hour each month to sit down with a news reporter? And the thing is, it wouldn’t even have to be news programs. What if he and Laura had sat down on The View? Oprah? Anything. Really.

What if a president sat down and honestly and openly told the people what he was doing, why there’s a problem, what’s difficult about it or anything else? Can you imagine? An honest and open president?

That president would be a leader of the people.

But, alas, this is probably just a pipe dream.

McCain's got nothin' - go all in!

It seems Obama has called McCain’s bluff.

According to Politico.com, a McCain advisor said that the republican presidential candidate will most likely be attending the debate tonight. Yesterday, when McCain addressed the country and said that he would put his campaign on hold in favor of solving the nation’s economic crisis, I, along with most of America, wondered whether the move had political or moral motives.

I’m thinking political and here’s why.

If McCain honestly thought that he could provide some kind of genuine support in the Senate, he wouldn’t be considering this debate. He would stay in Washington and lead the way on a bipartisan bill that could later act as a cornerstone of his campaign. To be able to say, “When the nation was in trouble, I put politics aside and led the way to reform,” would be invaluable to a candidate who largely comes across not as the ‘maverick’ but as grandpa.

Instead, McCain is now entertaining the idea of attending the debate. Had Obama not pushed for the debate and gone to Washington with McCain, McCain would have come across as the leader to the majority of the public, as he was the first to publicly propose the campaign hold. But now that Obama has said he still wants to verbally spar, McCain has to comply.

If McCain declines to debate and doesn’t personally accomplish something impressive in the capitol building, he will look like a lame duck – particularly if the bailout bill isn’t passed in very short order.

Recovering from Palin Fever

Finally, after long last, the news outlets have chilled out on Sarah Palin. Thank God.

But what has this shown us about the vice presidential candidate? I’d be lying if I said I knew, but I feel that we can narrow it down to a few possibilities.

Despite extensive media coverage (obsession?) the governor from Alaska has largely declined any media interviews and has refused to appear on talk shows.

We have a couple ways to look at this.

The first, and perhaps most terrifying, is that Mrs. Palin is simply not versed enough to handle the grilling that would be dished out by experienced journalists. The McCain camp, despite the vp choice, is still running on a platform of experience - whether they advertise it or not. Showing an inept vice presidential candidate to the world would in no way help them out.

The second possibility is that the McCain campaign is milking the media’s curiosity over Palin. Nobody really knows much about her and that’s bringing her attention. And there is nothing great to bring an unknown into celebrity like absurd levels of news coverage. And the more she remains a mystery, the more she’s going to be speculated about, evaluated, and covered by the media outlets.

Good Shit

I was about to write an entry about the balance between US citizenship and world citizenship after seeing hundreds of people waving "country first" signs at the RNC. But now, as I write this, MSNBC is rerunning a video shown on the big screen at the convention. Is the video about 9/11? No. McCain's time as a POW? Nope.

It's Ronald Mother-F!@#ing Reagan!

Holy God! Thats the stuff baby! Give papa that sweet red blooded sugar!

How could we forget about a man who has about as much to do with this presidential race as the obese guy who rolls past my house every other day on his adult sized tricycle?!?! Yes, it had been too long since the National Republican party had filled up that syringe and intravenously injected some pure unadulterated Ronald Reagan. Good Lord. At least fat tricycle guy can vote.

But ya know, lets not judge the whole convention on one completely inane video biography about a guy who should be the poster-boy for failed economic policies and international scandal.

Let's see what's next.

Oh snap! It's Fred Thompson!

HOLY CRAP

As if the vintage Reagan porn wasn't enough - and yes, I believe at this point we can consider footage of Ronald Reagan porn for many on this country's right - the Grande Old Party follows it up with a guy so old and out of touch with the country that he's just figured out the Cold War ended.

Could this party get any older? (Physically or mentally?) Seriously. On Wednesday, Newt Gingrich is scheduled to talk about the US' role in the League of Nations and I hear they've already reserved the Knollwood Nursing Home in D.C. for the 2012 convention.

Thats all for now. Feel free to post responses. Seriously.