by Kat Derrig

Created on: November 05, 2008

Character plays a strong role in my decision of who to vote for in the presidential election, and all elections for that matter. America needs a leader who is honest, and has the good of the country at heart, rather than just pandering to lobbyists and special interest groups. And while I base my vote mostly on the proposed policies of the candidates, I do get concerned when the presidential hopefuls start "fighting dirty". One example is a recorded message released the day of the election by the McCain campaign targeting Cuban Americans. It informs listeners, in Spanish, that Fidel Castro supports Barack Obama, putting America in danger of political policies like those in Cuba - basically associating Obama with communism. I found this attack almost laughable, as no reasonable voter would imagine that either candidate will be shaking hands with the Castro brothers after the election. Though these calls were obviously a last-minute effort to assure the votes of the primarily conservative Cuban constituency in Florida, they were a low blow.

The McCain camp has used similar strategies in associating Obama with Bill Ayers. McCain, in my opinion, made himself look a little foolish in the last debate when he brought up the association, and wouldn't let the topic rest even when Obama clearly explained the nature of his aquaintance with Ayers. These are just a few examples of what I call dirty campaigning - I don't think McCain is a man of low character in general.

Being a working-class person, character is important to me because I need a president who genuinely cares about middle and lower class Americans. It's easy to give tax breaks to the wealthy and big corporations, because money can pretty much buy anything. On the local level, we have seen how money equals power - city governments pay huge subsidies to companies like Wal-Mart so that they will build stores within city limits, while small businesses are left to fend for themselves. On the national level, these corporations hold large amounts of power, to violate environmental and labor laws, and even have laws created and changed to work in their favor. That is why the President and members of Congress and the Senate need to keep their focus on what is best for the average person. Character, and the values a politician holds, will keep him or her honest.

It has often been said that power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely. Luckily, our government has a built-in system of checks and balances so that no one person holds absolute power. But with the highest government position in the country at stake, I want to know our leader has strong character.

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