The day before midterm elections, the best editorial I've found is this one from David Corn at AlterNet. His concern is the "me-too-ism" that has come to dominate American politics, making it nearly impossible to distinguish Clinton's budget cutting liberalism from Bush's compassionate conservatism. The results have been a general breakdown in party loyalty and the fostering of negative, substanceless campaigns. Corn writes:
It's no surprise that party identification is decreasing. The parties are giving consumers less with which to identify. And they employ the same tactics: Raise a boatload of money and use it for ads. This year, the parties together will spend $1 billion by Election Day for a campaign that has fewer competitive races but more nasty ads than ever before. It was once SOP for a candidate, in the last week of a campaign, to stop airing negative ads that trash the opponent and, instead, air positive spots about himself. This year, the smackdown ads didn't disappear in the final week, another sign that candidates have even less to offer than before.
Pollsters, consultants and political reporters speak of the need for one party or the other to break out — and, thus, bring an end to the 50-50 era (which for politicos in Washington is getting to be a drag). But as the Post reporters note, "Neither party has figured out how to win on the big issues."
A note for those of you who are reading my site instead of Maxine Hong Kingston's fine novel, The Woman Warrior (and there are four or five of you each day). First thing: read the book. It's a quick read, and it's pretty darn compelling, featuring some of the most beautiful prose I've encountered. Second thing: Eleanor Wachtel interviews Kingston in this week's episode of Writers and Company. Click on "listen" at the bottom of the right column. She talks about The Woman Warrior midway through the interview.
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