Jessica

Vozel

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April 1, 2008

Presidential Campaign Turns Dull, So My Attention Turns to American Idol

On the surface, the race to the 2008 presidential election seems to be at the peak of intrigue, scandal and excitement. The Pennsylvania primary is approaching. Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton have both had some explaining to do in recent weeks, whether that explaining involved their own slips of the tongue or those of their advocates.

Pundits are in a frenzy. They are seizing on every detail for extensive analysis, so much so that another college student attending a Chelsea Clinton Q&A decided to ask her about Monica Lewinsky, likely because he or she was aiming for the 15 minutes of fame given to the first questioner. The campaign looks as much like the Super Bowl for the politically aware as it ever did. 

And yet something seems off. Suddenly, the latest candidate slip-up or attack ad is becoming, well, boring. Nothing short of a sex scandal can shock the average American anymore. Those states that have already had the primary wave wash over them have returned to voting for American Idol contestants, in all their mind-numbed glory. Their Obama and Clinton lawn signs, once meticulously cared for, are now leaning in the wind. 

This primary lull – although the primaries are still going strong – favors no party and is not unique to the 2008 campaign. But what are the consequences? For the candidates, it’s the depressing knowledge that, as with early rounds of American Idol contestants, the American people are not tuning in to see an inspiring performance but rather the latest marginally entertaining screw-up. 

Republican nominee John McCain should be riding high on a wave of support from his party, building his campaign and generating excitement as the Republican Party’s next superstar. Not so. Although Republicans are divided in their support and dislike for McCain, which alone should liven up the lull, his campaign and his demeanor are a regular snooze-fest. What was once an exciting, diverse pool of potential Republican nominees has been dwindled down to just one man with whom many in the party are not so enthralled. Instead, the Republicans are more interested in watching Clinton and Obama tear each other down.

Clinton and Obama, at the same time, are losing their respective positions as the Democratic Party’s saviors. For Obama, this is especially troubling because he, until recently, looked to be the most messianic of the two candidates. Now, regular old on-the-fence Americans (as opposed to his gung-ho campaign staff and ardent supporters) are becoming numb to Obama’s message of “hope.” One can only hear the same lines so many times before they lose their spark. If Obama was an American Idol contestant, the average American would phone in for him once or twice but disconnect their auto-dialer. 

Another, perhaps overlooked, party affected by the primary lulls are the states who have yet to vote. For them, having a boring primary season is par for the course – very often the nominees are decided by this point and thus their votes are merely symbolic. But this year, Pennsylvania – among other states – has the opportunity to make a clear impact on the political process. But while Pennsylvanians in the Democratic Party are registered in record-breaking numbers, the rest of the country is kind of bored with it all. It’s their moment in the sun – but their vote still doesn’t seem to hold as much weight as those in Texas and Ohio. This, of course, says something about America’s political process in general, but that’s another topic altogether.

While this phenomenon is not unique to 2008, one wonders if the 24-hour saturation of news and commentary in the technological age has somehow contributed to it. When news networks scramble to fill hours and hours of airtime, of course they will seize on the most mundane details and make them seem as explosive as possible. That works for a while, but eventually, Americans catch on, get annoyed with it all and flip the channels to something more genuinely dramatic.

So, with all of that said, I’ve decided that, instead of spending any more time thinking about the 2008 election, I’m going to tear up my voter registration card and devote all of my attention to the remaining nine American Idol candidates. Voting for America’s next singing superstar is a much more noble pursuit than choosing its next president. 

(In some ways I wish I were serious, but: April Fools!)

© 2008 North Star Writers Group. May not be republished without permission.

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