Ronniesia Reed
–rreed24@my.apsu.edu
One of the best aspects about the 2012 election is that it has gotten more people interested in politics and voting than many other elections. However, one of the worst aspects is the bashing the candidates have been doing toward each other. Many people know who they will be voting for, but others are still in the process of gathering information.
While undecided voters are trying to find out more information about the candidates and what they have to offer, there is an issue that I am sure many people are coming across. Information about what the candidates are offering is becoming hard to find because information on what the other candidate does not have to offer is getting in the way, instead.
Many voters agree that the bashing from each party has gone a little too far in this election.
“I am sure it is all a political game, but the game should be more dignified. They’re supposed to focus on leading our country, not fight each other like four-year-olds,” said Jenn Kitts, sophomore nursing major.
The two candidates have both taken to Twitter to do a lot of their bashing. Twitter wars are great for teenagers but not for the leader of our country.
“RT if you agree: Mitt Romney’s severely conservative views are a disaster for women that we can’t afford in the White House,” President Obama wrote on his Twitter.
“@BarackObama’s defense cuts are making our future less certain and less secure. We can’t afford four more years” Mitt Romney wrote on his Twitter.
Jay Nash, freshman marketing major, believes it is immature when the candidates bash each other on Twitter and thinks they should carry themselves more appropriately.
Twitter is a new exciting way to find out more information on people and things going on in our country. The candidates should use Twitter as a mature way to tell prospective voters what they have to offer.
“Neither one is acting like a president, this gives me an outlook on what they will be like in office. If they can’t respect each other, how will they treat other countries? They might say the wrong thing and we might go to war,” said Whitney Davis, freshman communications major.
This is true. We have already seen examples of mistreatment toward other countries with the continuous China bashing from both parties in the debates. Our president needs to be mindful of disrespecting other countries and what the outcome may be for Americans.
The candidates are supposed to present themselves as respectable people who have respect for one another, and their family should do so as well. According to an article on ABC News, Tagg Romney, Mitt Romney’s son, made a comment to a radio interviewer saying that some of Obama’s comments made him want to “jump out of my seat and … rush down to the debate stage and take a swing at him.”
This comment was clearly inappropriate, and after realizing how bad he came off, Tagg Romney apologized. When you are running for president, there is no room for slip-ups like these because they are examples of true character, which is what voters are ultimately looking for.
In August, the Obama campaign released a video entitled the “Do-Over” in which the video acts like a movie trailer to bash the Romney campaign. The ending says “Rated N for Not gonna work.”
This was very catchy, however, very immature. The money, time and energy spent on the production of this video could have been put elsewhere.
The candidates in this election are spending way too much time focusing on each other. As an American citizen I want for them to focus on us. We can only hope this is not what it will be like when the person elected for president gets into office.
