This is the year the electoral process has jumped the shark. Starting in the summer of the year before the election year transformed the Presidential election into retail Christmas; Christmas used to be special until stores tried to beat each other with early displays. The time between election cycles will grow shorter and will concurrently drain optimism from the electorate. All this election has done is reinforce what we all know but don't dare say lest we bash the candidate we support: quality people do not go into politics.
Neither McCain nor Obama are quality people. I believe the closer someone is to the White House the further removed that person is from what is presented for the cameras. Obama, for example, is a young Chicago politician who will do whatever it takes and say whatever he can to move forward, but he's managed and is presented as the ideal candidate who is beyond ugly politics. Everything he does is orchestrated by committee and everything he says is scripted by consensus.
McCain fell into the same trappings upon the receipt of the Republican nomination. His message changed because he was being handled. His handlers knew he had to appeal to the conservative base and he severed his bipartisan history without batting an eye. I don't agree with his bipartisan ways, but he is certainly not honest with who he is.
When a person submits to being managed in order to get elected, that person is not genuine by default. The presentation becomes the message. I think this is one reason people easily spot gaffes and inconsistencies with nearly every speech. The candidate is uttering things he would never have said on his own because he doesn't believe in them. Barak Obama no more believes in a wealth-generating free market economy than McCain believes in border security. However, the news cycle has forced their campaigns to publish fluid opinions that become "re-framed" repeatedly based on polls and consultants' research.
Obama claims he is not a socialist, but continues to say things here and there to indicate he is. In his first book he admitted to being drawn to socialists in college. But the script says he must deny it, so he does. McCain is not a maverick. If he was, he would not stay on script and he would not have to say he was a maverick to everyone. If Michelle and Barak were just like average Americans, they wouldn't have to tell us. It would be obvious. Don't get me started on Palin's joe-six-pack schtick.
This persona manufacturing is getting old. PR is helpful to present an official voice, but there is a point when PR moves from being a consistent message into a world of fantasy. In the fantasy world, the candidates don't offend anybody at any time and can be everything to everyone. Who do you know is like that? As unrealistic as the fantasy candidate is, people seem hungry for it. It's scary how people gulp down every ounce of their chosen candidates as the truth when, as I just pointed out, there is no truth from either candidate.
The other part of this is how the campaigns have taken advantage of the country's hunger for leadership. There has been a leadership deficit in American government for a while now. There is a leadership crisis and I think that's why people seem to care which celebrity endorses which candidate. It's desperation for any kind of leadership when Matt Damon, Alec Baldwin, and Ted Nugent help people form political opinions. The campaigns seem to know this and play along with campaign stops on Letterman, The Daily Show, and Saturday Night Live. How much of Obama is celebrity versus genuine leadership? Based on what I've seen, his celebrity far exceeds his actual experience as a leader, but since he is projected as a leader, his emotional appeal trumps the logical question of his experience. I have actually read forums on various political Web sites where people say things like "and I've written to Obama about this" as if their email messages were prayers.
As many have said about this year's election, it is historic. However, I think it is historic not because Obama could be the first black president or because McCain could bring the first woman VP with him to the White House. It's not because record numbers will vote or because it will be as close as the election of 2000. I think it is historic because millions of Americans have accepted the PR releases, talking points, and staged image as perfectly acceptable in lieu of a real person. I think this is the year expectations are so low that crafted, calculated personas are just the way things are.
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Unrest by Parkway Drive