Thursday, August 09, 2007
Rock the Vote?
A quick rant for you. I apologize in advance.This year, I'm serving on NABJ's Elections Committee. Today, we hosted a candidate forum where members could talk to the candidates and ask them questions. It was held immediately after the Senator Clinton speech today, which a majority of the membership attended.
The committee prepared for everything. We had index cards ready to go. The committee was ready.
Tell me why no more than 40 people showed up? Or rather, stuck around. The ballroom was almost full for Clinton. For us, the entire membership could fit into three rows.
Are you serious?
I know the candidates are accessible and have been campaigning all week long, but this was the chance for members to get real answers to their questions and compare candidates side by side. For those who attended, I believe the forum was valuable. For those who missed it, you missed some insightful questions and answers. Your bad.
As an committee member, it honestly disappointed and seriously angered me that people just didn't care.
Don't complain when our budget deficit doesn't increase. If you aren't engaged, you have no right to complain.
As my fellow Ten95'er said: "I hope this isn't an indication of the national election (voter turnout)."
Me too, honey. Me too.
Labels: Clinton, dismay, NABJ, Sin City
continue...Friday, February 23, 2007
Reporting Democracy
I guess I'll have to be the first to say that I'm tired of the 2008 election, already. I don't want to read about it, or hear it on the radio, or see it on the television.The problem: I don't know anything relevant about the candidates or their service records.
Instead I know them as a white woman who is just everywhere all at once, a biracial guy from Illinois who writes good books, an Italian ex-mayor of New York City and a really old guy who opposes a woman’s right to choose.
And trailing behind them are a Mormon, a guy who referred to a black candidate as clean (but he meant to say ‘fresh’), and that other guy with a Southern accent who’s gearing up for his third attempt at the White House.
Almost every respectable news outlet has run stories about Barack Obama’s racial background being an issue with black voters, as if his identifying with the black community is irrelevant.
Or about Rudolph Giuliani being the first Italian-Catholic presidential hopeful. Bada bing and whoop-tee doo!
Or about Hilary Clinton being the first woman front-runner. What do you me to say? "You go girl!?"
Or even about John McCain being for a federal stop to abortion, and not for a constitutional ban to gay marriages. (Has anyone told him that both those issues are equally viewed as attempts to legislate morality?) ...typical.
And why print these stories?
Is America afraid that Obama will serve greasy, heart attack inducing fried chicken and collard greens at his inaugural ball? At least that’s what they thought after Tiger Woods was the first black man to win the masters.
Will Giuliani bring the Italian mafia to the White House? Will they be able to film the lost episodes of the final season of HBO’s Sopranos from the oval office?
Will Clinton’s presence in the White House synchronize the menstruation periods of all the female staff, making it harder for the male staff a few days every month?
Does McCain have any business gunning for anti-abortion laws, when a more realistic issue for him to take up would be senior citizen abuse in convalescent hospices? He's 72. The man probably couldn't jog around the White House for his morning exercise.
Truth is, journalism hasn’t provided me with very many relevant thinking points. As of now I don't see anything but a bunch of jockeys on horses in a race for multi-millions in campaign contributions. And democracy is not being promoted here.
A solution: shut down the presses on the election! We’ve got more than a year to go before the primaries. By then, we wouldn’t care if Obama was born to a Martian and a golden retriever, if Clinton was transgender, if Giuliani starred in Godfather Part Four, or if McCain adopted black orphaned babies from Africa.
Labels: Clinton, election, Giuliani, McCain, Obama, primary
continue...