Convention-Al Wisdom?0

By: Andrew Fain

There is no more divisive, polarizing or hot button topic in the country today than politics. Especially in the midst of one of the most hotly contested Presidential races in some time.

It seems you could insult someone’s mother or family and get less of a reaction than if you insulted their political view. It has gotten to the point in this country where getting things done has taken a backseat to making sure the other party fails to get things done.

I am not sure that’s what the framers of the Constitution had in mind when they developed the two party system that makes America so great.

It is really a sad statement that the Republicans can open their convention by stating that their goal these past four years was making sure our President failed. To me, that should be tantamount to treason. That has nothing to do with my political point of view, as I would say the same things if Democrats said that about a Republican President.

It is so bad that a Republican small business owner was seen bear hugging President Obama when the President paid a visit to his Pizzeria. As soon as the picture hit the internet, the poor business owner starting receiving criticisms on Yelp.Com from people saying they would now NEVER eat in the restaurant because “he was hugging the socialist”. Are you kidding me? Isn’t this country supposed to be all about the little guy making it big? People are knocking him because he crossed political lines and hugged the President? Grow up people!!!!!!

But let’s take a closer look at the biggest political gatherings so far this year, the two conventions (one of which caused the opening night of the NFL season to be moved to a Wednesday instead of a Thursday, but I’m not bitter).

The Republicans took over Florida, or as Stewie Griffin appropriately called it, Gods waiting room, for their convention in Tampa. The highlight, or lowlight depending on your point of view, was the incoherent ramblings of Clint Eastwood speaking to an empty chair.

Since the passing of Charlton Heston, I guess the GOP felt they needed another aging American Icon to take the torch of the party. But his “speech” (and I use that term for lack of a better word), may have been the most insulting babbling of an incumbent President that I have ever heard.

I am sure on paper, when Clint (or whoever came up with the idea) thought this would be a good idea; it looked like a very smart thing to do. However, in practice, when he actually started talking to the chair, it was one of the more bizarre things I have ever seen, and it certainly didn’t make me want to vote for Mitt Romney. I mean tell me about his policies and how he is going to get the economy back to being one of the strongest in the world, not some sideshow featuring an over-the-hill actor mumbling to an empty chair.

Before the debacle that was Clint, were the lies from Vice Presidential candidate Paul Ryan. Even FOX News (the Republican strong hold), said that Ryan needed a new fact checker.

According to the New Republic, it was “the most dishonest convention speech ever”. New York’s Dan Amira described it as “appallingly disingenuous and shamelessly hypocritical”. Even the Associated Press hit the wire with a piece detailing “factual shortcuts” on issues like Medicare, economic stimulus, and the closing of a GM plant in Janesville, Wisconsin.

I know we joke that the best way to tell if a politician is lying is to see if his lips move, but that is ridiculous. His lies during the speech almost makes one yearn for Sarah Palin to come back into the fold.

For the biggest dichotomy between the two parties, all you have to do is take a look at two of the speeches given, one by each side.

First there was First Lady Michelle Obama, who even though she is not elected to any office or trained to do this sort of thing, was one of the most eloquent speakers of EITHER convention. Anyway, during the First Lady’s speech, the camera panned the audience and there were African Americans, Latinos, Asian Americans and Whites of all ages and sexual orientation.

Meanwhile, when former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice spoke, the camera again panned the audience. But this time, as far as they eye could see there were old white men, with a smattering of women. As soon as they hit the lone African American, the camera held on them. Then as the speech continued, that was the ONLY person the camera focused on. Oh yeah, that really shows the diversity in this country.

Don’t get me wrong, the Democrats are not above reproach in the slightest. Their convention had more than their share of faux pas as well.

Let’s start with the God controversy. For the first time ever, the Democratic platform did not include any references to God, or to Jerusalem as the capital of Israel. It gave the Republicans a chance to say that the Dems are “a Godless people”.

Whether the oversight was intentional or not (the Dems swear it was just an oversight), the fact that this was even brought up was ridiculous. While I agree religion should hold no place in politics, to purposely leave out references to God is just plain stupid.

Then, as if it were possible, things went from ridiculous to the sublime. In a display of confusion, Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa presided over a voice vote to change the platform language in which the “nays” actually seemed to outweigh the “yeas.” After three tries, Mr. Villaraigosa nevertheless went ahead and declared the vote passed by a “two-thirds majority” – at which point, he was booed.

You would figure at the convention in which the incumbent President is going to speak, that he would be the highlight of the 3 day affair. Well, you would figure wrong. Former President (and maybe the best President we have had since JFK), Bill Clinton gave the highlight speech of the entire political season from either side.

He may not be in the spotlight anymore, but he hasn’t lost one ounce of the charisma he had when he was the leader of the free world. His speech was so good that when President Obama finally got his chance to speak, all he should have done was point to a picture of Clinton and say “What he said”. Then he should have just walked off the stage.

I guess the point is that BOTH conventions were wrought with issues and really got us nowhere. The sad part is, combined the two conventions cost almost $1 Billion to put on. That’s Billion with a “B”. Add that to the cost of the campaigns themselves and is it any wonder this country is in the shape that it is in?

Instead of allowing lobbyists and special interest groups donate to Presidential campaigns, and therefore have that candidate beholden to a certain group or point of view, what should be done is have a special fund from which part of our taxes are put into. Each candidate would get an equal amount from that fund to spend on the campaign, and that’s it. Once that money is gone, there is no more campaigning to be done.

That way, the Presidents agenda would not be set by the Tobacco or Gun lobby, but by, and here’s a novel concept, the will of the people. Not only that, the money saved on the campaigns can go towards more important things, like balancing the budget. I’m no expert, but I’m just saying.