This past Tuesday, my roommate and I were sitting in our room when we heard a sudden knock on our door. “Come in,” I said. Suddenly, the door swung open. Two students, who looked to be a year or two older than me, walked in. “Have you voted yet?” the taller one asked. Thinking of the on-line ballot I completed just moments before their arrival, I proudly replied, “Yes.”

“Great, who did you vote for for student trustee?” the taller one prodded. “Isn’t that supposed to be private” I thought to myself; however, I hesitantly replied, “Rob Main.” “That’s great,” he replied, “because you do know that the other candidate has never had a drink, smoked, or kissed a girl. And he’s trying to shorten winter vacation.” Quickly, after noticing that my roommate and I weren’t buying into their hardball antics, the two Main supporters left our room, leaving me speechless.

 Now, although the accusations being leveled against Schmitt were harsh, they are just elementary examples of how dirty the game of politics can get. Look at the presidential election, for example. Photos of Barack Obama in traditional African attire are being leaked to the media; moreover, Conservative radio talk show host, Bill Cunningham, repeatedly referred to Barack Obama as “Barack Hussein Obama” and called him a “hack-style Chicago Daley politician” during a McCain rally last week.

 When having slander being leveled against them, it is important to give a candidate the benefit of the doubt. In the case of Paul Schmitt, he wasn’t there to defend himself; and until I hear it from his mouth, never will I believe that he wants to shorten winter vacation. Moreover, unless the personal life of a candidate directly affects his or her ability to facilitate action, never should we bother ourselves with it. If anything, fretting about a candidate’s personal life only distracts us from what really matters: the wellbeing of our university and our country. 

This entry was posted on Friday, February 29th, 2008 at 2:37 pm and is filed under Politics. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.