The Online Reflector

By Andrew Gouty
Online Editor

Since and before Super Tuesday, the presidential primaries have provided no shortage of content for sportscasters and major TV news syndicates. It is impressive how the two genres have combined in appearance.

I often wonder at Keith Olbermann, who took his anchor’s position from ESPN to MSNBC. Anymore there are too many similarities to scoff at.

Considering that President Bush’s approval ratings hover at the one-third mark, the primaries should capture our attention. Now that the field of candidates attracting convention delegates has narrowed to a slim number of hopefuls, media analysis has gone deeper, likely hoping to further stake claims such as CNN’s “Best Political Team on Television.”

Save for those brief moments last week when millions were watching the Academy Awards, many who have an interest in where America goes next year are paying close attention to the primaries.

We do this for good reason. Pundits have called this Nov. 4 a historic election. They’re right. In recent history, never have so many decisive (moreover, divisive) issues been presented to the American public, all riding on results from the polls.

Americans are fighting a causeless war with no end in sight, costing American and Iraqi lives. The U.S. economy appears to have the consistency of sand, while congressional leaders want to poke it with a stick.

The Bill of Rights has been chopped up to look like a piece of origami, and America’s dependence on foreign oil has never been more exposed. Our actions (or lack thereof) abroad have emboldened our enemies and disappointed our friends.

If I continue, I’ll have to spit on my keyboard.

The point is that our country needs new direction. That our presidential candidates have been forced to realize this is a pleasant surprise, but not one that wipes away the skeptical look from the 66 percent of Americans who disapprove of the current debacle of an administration.

The historic nature plays into the candidates as well. Finally, and in the same year, potential party nominees include a woman and an African American. Historic, indeed.

Between them and the remaining Republican candidates, the media blitz makes my eyes want to glaze. The parade of remaining candidates had remained relatively dirt free, until John McCain came under fire for an inappropriate relationship with a lobbyist eight years ago.

Eight years ago.

The immediate response from Sen. McCain’s campaign office didn’t hit far from the truth, calling the New York Times article a “smear campaign.”

Even the conciliatory Sen. Hillary Clinton took an angry tone with Sen. Barack Obama about recent accusations of inappropriate campaigning in Ohio, which held primary competition just yesterday, March 4.

In this inevitable mess of a situation is Obama, promising a different campaign. If and when that premise doesn’t deliver so accurately as his message describes, it may not be his fault that everything doesn’t come up roses. But he may take the fall for it.

Neither of the other two front-running candidates in this race have offered so distinct a vision as Obama’s, but in a way that secures them from having to provide too much, if and when they come to office. This is not to detract from any of the issues that their candidacies ride upon. However, Obama has the most to prove in this campaign for a variety of reasons.

As the least-experienced senator among the three, he appeals most to a youth audience that is very dissatisfied with the lack of results coming from Washington in recent years. Yet as an Obama supporter, I cannot help but respond to the legitimate concern that Obama does not have the “necessary experience.”

I return at this point to an argument that was raised four years ago, which was on the minds of many.

Anything is better than what we have now.

As sorry an argument as it is to consider, America needs seemingly drastic change.

Our current administration is ill-equipped to provide it, and a change in the congressional majority failed to produce the changes many Americans were hoping for.

We’re still waiting.