The state of the campaigns is not very pretty in the public's eyes. And take that coming from someone who gets pointedly irritated whenever a professional whiner blathers on about how "dirty" the current election is. I don't know when this point in national politics was where everyone was perfectly civil, but please somebody build me a time machine so I can go there.
So far on the campaign trail, we've heard accusations of corporate malfeasance, lying, draft-dodging, flip-flopping and medal-mongering. We've had unwashed masses of protesters out in the streets to say that Bush = Hitler, and we've had Dan Rather going on the air to attack Bush with documents that were apparently typed up on a 1973 prototype of Microsoft Word.
That said, this whole shindig could be a lot worse if George W. Bush was one-tenth as mean as he's supposed to be. I say this in all seriousness: If the President has had a flaw on this campaign trail, it's that he's being too nice.
Against allegations made by John Kerry and company that Bush is a war profiteer, a serial liar, a draft dodger who is going to re-instate the draft, a traitor, etc., the President's harshest response has been to call Kerry a "flip-flopper." Ouch! Somebody call Mommy!
At the debates, Bush has constantly been put on defense by both his opponent and the media "referees" (a special thank-you to Jim Lehrer, who didn't ask Kerry a single question about his 20-year Senate voting record), but for Bush the best offense actually turns out to be a strong defense: Most of the latest tracking polls put the President ahead by a solid but slight lead amongst voters.
This, despite an at-times painfully awkward performance at the first Presidential debate, where he came off as fumbling and tired against a well-prepared and skilled statesman. The president missed some good opportunities to call Kerry out on the bogus rhetoric he'd brought that night (how is a year's wait and debate a "rush to war," exactly? How do more than 30 allies constitute "going it alone?"), but still came out ahead on substance if not on style. Plus, he scored the only real sound byte of the evening, catching U.N.-fetishist Kerry's talk of a "global test."
The president came off better at last week's "town hall" debate, fielding questions from audience members in a more relaxed, if cheesy environment. For once, Bush didn't repeat the phrase "hard work" a zillion times, while Kerry seemed liked he was actually getting paid every time he said he "had a plan."
There's one more debate and it'll be here at ASU, where Kerry will be greeted enthusiastically by a group of young Democrats, who this time last year fervently believed Howard Dean was the only man for the job.
The difference between the two candidates is really right there: Bush is followed because of who he is, Kerry is followed because of who he isn't. That's why, for all his shortcomings, all Bush will have to do on Wednesday is smile, shuffle his feet and politely ask his opponent to please stop talking out both sides of his mouth.
And he's going to win.
Eric Spratling is a member of the College Republicans and a public relations senior. Reach him at eric.spratling@asu.edu. Read his blog online at asuwebdevil.com
