Monday, November 03, 2008

Not surprisingly it's not even agreed if this is the "best race ever"

I was really busy this weekend with the homeless awareness project, Tent City, but I did read a few political articles from this weekend. On Saturday I noticed that David Broder proclaimed the election of 2008, The Amazing Race. His closing statements:

For decades, I have said that the 1960 Kennedy-Nixon campaign was the best I ever saw. But most of the drama in that contest came after Labor Day. This time, the excitement was generously distributed over a whole year, with moments of genuine humor from Huckabee, a torrent of uninhibited conversation from McCain and Biden, and rare eloquence from Obama and both Clintons. The country faces a choice between two men who both promise the nation a more principled, less partisan leadership.

And meanwhile, what a show it has been -- the best campaign I've ever covered.

Then today, Fred Barnes states, The Best Presidential Campaign Ever?
Not by a long shot.
His opening statement:
Was the 2008 presidential campaign the greatest ever? The conventional wisdom in the political community and the media seems to be congealing around that idea. David Broder, the political columnist of the Washington Post, thinks the 2008 race was best he's ever covered. Was it really that good? I don't think so. In important ways, this year's campaign was one of the worst.

I recommend reading both, since it's pretty clear both men are coming from a very different point of view. Especially when it comes to Palin. What Broder writes:
In St. Paul, the Republicans cheered McCain's surprise choice of a new heroine, Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, as his vice presidential candidate. Listening to the roars that rocked the hall, I was transported back to San Francisco's Moscone Center in 1984, when Walter Mondale made Geraldine Ferraro the first woman on a national ticket. In both cases, the euphoria was as genuine as it was short-lived. Neither woman was able to establish herself as a plausible "heartbeat away" from the presidency.

What Barnes writes:
And there was one special highlight of this year's race: the selection by McCain of Alaska governor Sarah Palin as his vice presidential running mate. From her first public appearance with McCain, Palin was a star. Only one other Republican can match her stage presence, California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger. Since he's foreign-born, he can't serve as president. She can.

That's one thing that has remained constant, reading two totally different opinions on the same event or person, and trying to discover where the actual truth lies...

5 comments:

Nunzia Rider said...

If this is the best campaign ever, I really should retire.

Unknown said...

I wondered how you were going to feel about that one.

:-)

Nunzia Rider said...

Ha. I was thinking maybe the worst ever, but I'd have to look a little closer at some of the mudslinging campaigns of the 1800s to be sure.

Unknown said...

I don't think this is the worst ever, only because some of the campaigns in history have been much worse.

Personally, this campaign did point out the power of the internet and the media, more so than any recent election. That has been both good and bad, and it's up to us to either use this a way we can improve or a way we can go lower...

Scott G said...

It may be one of the most interesting and maybe historically significant for racial and gender issues, but it has not even come close to what I imagine the 1860 election was like.

Plus, depending on the outcome, it could do more to divide the nation then the 1860 election did. Either side that loses can claim some wrong and their supporters will never let it go.