Presidential Ad Campaigns Are Not Very Presidential

The latest attacks and counterattacks in the race for president have taken on a sense of desperation. In attacking each other, Obama and McCain are displaying a form of unproductive leadership. Leadership should be a positive attribute for a president.

Attacking each other is trying to ensure the American people see the bad points in the other person. We all have bad points. What we want to know is what are your good points. If the best you can do is attack each other like schoolyard bullies then maybe neither of you are befitting of the office you are running for. Why don’t you guys focus on the positive aspects of your own campaigns and let us decide which one is better. Show us what you will be like as president. Just anybody can attack another person with negative slurs, but it takes a leader to rise above the dirt slinging and bring some much needed class back to the office.

McCain made the comment that “campaigns are tough”. I agree with this statement but I disagree with his obvious assessment that tough means “ugly” and “hostile”. This is where ethics comes into play. If the presidential candidate can keep himself above this type of negativity the American public will respect him for it. Trying to make yourself look better by making the other person look bad is not the basis we want to use for deciding a president. That decision should be based on actual substance and only the candidate can display that substance. Don’t force us to choose the lesser of two evils. We are tired of you guys thinking you have to lower the bar as if the office you guys are vying for is some local prize at the county fair.

Raise your expectations of us and we will follow. Show us that you are worthy of the office instead of how the other person is not worthy.

Take the initiative to show the leadership qualities that indicate you are capable of taking on the role of the leader of the free world. Don’t taint the position by resorting to the same low-level dirty politics that past unethical parties have used.

It is a truly sad day when a presidential candidate can put forth an ad comparing his opponent’s celebrity with the likes of Paris Hilton and Brittney Spears and hold his head up and declare “We’re proud of that commercial”. This gives a whole new perspective of that candidates expectations of himself and the American people.

We need debate on important issues such as energy, the environment, economics, and foreign policy. Instead, you are focused only on the prize and don’t seem to take into account the eroding away of the high class and dignity that goes with the office of President of the United States of America by tearing down your opponent. Each time you politicians attack one another you are chipping away at the high regard we Americans hold for this office and you lower the qualifications of the occupant to those of unethical and low-class individuals.