Transition from Trivia to World View

I have been a delinquent blogger recently -- partly because I am new at this and have not developed the required mental muscle memory or discipline. Although I have been an ardent supporter of Senator Obama in his presidential quest, I was also becoming somewhat appalled at how quickly Nailing Jello had deteriorated into just another partisan fan club site. I guess maybe I was subconsciously retreating from the "elite" objective I originally intended (i.e., democracy and ethics) to the lunch-bucket everyman gossip about the horserace -- the intellectual equivalent of "bowling" to prove my bona fides. Ah, well, who cares? I can only indulge in this sort of narcissistic pseudo-analysis because this blog has no audience and is really little more than a diary. The actual truth is that I have been too busy working, too absorbed in the minutia of the primary campaign, and, yes, too lazy to do anything other than periodically link to a marginally interesting video or posting from some other more industrious blogger.

Now that I have dumped my guilt, the real reason I decided to do a jello nailing today.

It appears that we may actually be approaching the end of the primary process and that the dialogue could possibly elevate. Although, I have to admit that the initial volley and counter-volley between the two campaigns over Obama's "Hamas endorsement" and McCain's "loss of bearings" are not encouraging.

Perhaps we can leave behind the obsession with meaningless trivia such as "flag pin, does he or doesn't he" or "can you believe he or she would go to a meeting with and sit in the same room with and breathe the same air as someone whose uncle's cousin's next-door neighbor did or said such and such." I do believe that my vote and yours for President are perhaps the most personal vote we ever cast and that character and values are important criteria in deciding how to cast that vote. But, are these trivial matters the real measure of character or values? I don't think so.

Perhaps we can stop the endlessly nonproductive blather about process like "will the super delegates decide on the basis of pledged delegates, popular vote, number of states, electoral votes, electability, down-ballot coattails, vote in their own district or state or zipcode, or the demographic ramifications of bubblegum sales in their census tract." My god, it makes my brain hurt? Doesn't it seem obvious that 795 super delegates might have 795 uniquely different shades or approaches to their decision making process?

Wouldn't it be refreshing if McCain really were the maverick and straight-talking politician he professes to be and if Obama really does intend to alter the politics of how we discuss our future, select our leaders, and implement changes? What if they really did engage in a general election campaign mixing the traditional media advertising (i.e., pablum and negative mudslinging attacks concocted by obscenely expensive political consultants) with traveling together around the country engaging in Lincoln-Douglas type debates and town hall meetings and dialogues with you and me? In that more perfect world, the media and press would merely be observers reporting on the process rather than active or pro-active participants. Wouldn't it be shocking if we had two candidates that actually stood up before us and said this election is going to be a philosophical and ideological exchange of ideas and policies between them and us rather than a continuation of the "gotcha" game and an on-going series of opportunities for Wolf Blitzer or Chris Matthews or George Stephanopoulos to strut their testosterone and make headlines over bullshit at the expense of the serious nature of the task of selecting our President?

Here are some of the things I would like to hear Obama and McCain discuss. I want to know what they each think and believe about these topics or do they think about them at all. Each of us would learn a lot more about their character and values from these discussions than we ever will by knowing if they do or don't wear a flag pin and why.

(1) In times of crisis in your life or in your administration, how have you approached and how will you approach decision-making and achieving a solution? How do and will you identify and analyze the problem? Who do and will you talk to, if anyone? What kind of information do and will you seek or need? How do and will you balance the need to make a decision quickly and the need to make the right choice?

(2) Beginning with George Washington, 42 individuals have served as President of the United States and the leader of our grand democratic republic experiment -- one unparalleled in world history. A few have performed admirably or even heroically, a few others have been downright deplorable, and most have been somewhere in between. Do you think about the fact that we may select you to step into the shoes and line of succession of both the best and the worst? How does that thought impact you? Do you have an abiding appreciation for the weight of responsibility you may be assuming and the nature of the stewardship? Do you approach it with confidence or humility or both and how do you achieve a balance between them?

(3) The increasing pace of technology advances and exploding world populations are dramatically impacting our global community geographically, demographically, economically, environmentally, and politically. We can no longer weigh and evaluate the pros and cons of isolationism or world engagement in the traditional ways because withdrawal is no longer an option and the extremes of the historical spectrum are not viable alternatives. In the next decade, China and India will directly and indirectly challenge the United States for dominance as the world's largest economy, consumer of goods, services and energy, and generator of carbon and other pollutants. Relative to those and perhaps other nations, our ability to control or even significantly influence energy costs, climate change, and political events -- both across the globe and within our own borders -- may well be on the decline. Do you believe traditional approaches can be used to deal with these issues? If not, what new approaches will you consider and how do you propose to deal with these issues?

(4) Once the campaign is over and political rhetoric has faded, what will you really do about Iraq? Afghanistan? Pakistan? the Mideast? and on and on ...

The answers to those questions and a candid discussion of those topics ought to keep us busy for a few months. The real question is can we ever get past where we are now and to those topics in the first place?