Covering the Convention: Let's Talk About What Matters

I don't know about the rest of you, but I'm really disappointed in the news coverage of this convention and moreover, this election. I didn't hear anybody talk about or analyze Senator Clinton's outfit until this morning. I think that these news organizations are not getting in-depth about the issues that are important to America -- they are not living up to the responsibility that they are mandated to have by our Constitution. In fact, last night my son came up to me (again) when I was watching the convention and said, "Dad, please turn off ESPN". He could only think it was ESPN due to the whole aesthetic of the broadcast with people behind the stage screaming things out, touting signs of their favorite "players" -- like a Superbowl or a college game day event. The only reason that one could tell that it wasn't said sports network was that the graphic with a guy in a helmet or someone bouncing a ball was strangely absent. They are analyzing as if this is a Clinton Convention and that Barack Obama is walking into a Roman arena filled with lions -- that narrative is apparently the most important issue involving our country. Is this the Twilight Zone?

My suggestion to the news organizations would be to discuss the following:

If you want to talk about experience, lets discuss experience. Neither one of them has run a country. No matter what you did before, you will not know what is like to run an entire country! Let's talk about John McCain going on-and-on like a 72-year old man repeating himself about his years in a prison cell during the war. I don't want to diminish its importance nor his service to this country, but it doesn't need to be brought up as a counterpoint to every issue raised -- particularly regarding his experience that qualifies him for the presidency -- in fact, we might discover that such trauma could create the wrong mental state for a man who is to be at the helm of our nation. Perhaps the news should go into in-depth analysis on the effects of such an episode on a person's mental state. Let's talk about the fact that he had a severe cancer and by the end of his first term he will probably have a recurrence. Let's talk about Obama's energy policy and if it is the right step. Let's talk about the Iraq war and the war in Afghanistan and which candidate's choices demonstrated a greater quality of experience.

Let's talk about that.