Am I the only person around who objects to the length of the recently concluded presidential campaign? Doesn't it bother anyone that pundits are now boasting that they were writing two columns a week about the 2008 race since this time in 2006?
I like politics. I used to think I loved it. But there is a time to attend to the nation's business. Already the Grotesque Excess School of Political Obsessions has been cranking out stories about Gov. Sarah Palin being greeted in Alaska by supporters of her running for President four years from now. Writers are telling us that new members of Congress are going to be wary of taking controversial votes on issues because they are thinking ahead to the mid-term elections of 2010. There are websites set up to handicap the 2012 race. Don't these people have anything else they can think about?
What has been called "the permanent campaign" is unfair to office holders. It subtly detracts from the legitimate authority of incumbents and distracts voters from the here and now by focusing on a distant election date. Serious issues are reduced to political slogans. The damage of the the permanent campaign is serious and real.
Hello? Does anyone else care?
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