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The Race for President: Lets Move Away from Supporters Statements And Get Back to the Issues

Despite the existence of real pressing issues in this country and a disagreement between the parties as to how to address those issues, the nation's media seems fixated by inappropriate comments made by people other than the candidates. First, John Hagee a supporter of Republican candidate Senator John McCain made some inappropriate and offensive remarks about Catholics. Then, former Vice Presidential Candidate and Senator Hillary Clinton supporter Geraldine Ferraro made the inappropriate and insulting assertion that Senator Barak Obama's race (African-American) was the only reason for the success of his campaign. Now, the television plays in an endless loop all the equally reprehensible statements made by Senator Obama's former minister Rev. Wright.

Each of these events has several common threads. One, the candidates did not make the inappropriate statements. Second, the candidates when confronted with the inappropriate statements denounced and rejected them. Third, despite the candidates rejection, members of the news media continued to attempt to tar the candidate with the inappropriate statement and to bait other candidates and their supporters into doing likewise.

This needs to stop. It is not helpful to the process of choosing an candidate or to the United States.. The United States stands at the center of a financial crisis that has caused a recession in the United States economy. In addition to the recession, the United States must decide what is to do about the war in Iraq. Given the existence of these and other significant domestic and foreign policy issues, the news media should be focused on what each of these candidates intends to do to address these issues.

How these issues are resolved will determine the future course of the United States; our children and grandchildren. It is the resolution of these issues that matter; not whose supporter said what. While the who said what game maybe sensational and sizzling, the media should not lose site of its goal to inform the public on the issues that matter most to its future.

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