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In Friday’s debate, the public learned a lot about how the presidential candidates can carry themselves, but what about the issues? Both McCain and Obama can get heated about what they’re talking about. We need to see more than that. We need to see exactly where they stand on the issues that matter to the public.
Voters cannot be expected to make the best choice based solely on sound bites. We need to hear about more than wanting to change foreign policy or reduce taxes. How are our candidates going to do all of this? When presented with such issues as the financial recovery plan, the candidates tell us we need to know and do certain things, but they leave it up to the public to figure it out.
We can’t expect to avoid partisanship if our candidates don’t give us the information we need. Without the proper information, it is likely people will be voting for their party, whether or not it is the right choice on Election Day. If people do not know where the candidates stand, they might vote based only on party loyalties.
Media outlets try to help the people stay as informed as possible. CNN provides live fact checking online during the debates. This allows people to at least know which candidates are best informed on the issues, even when it’s not so clear what they’re going to do about anything.
Bangor Daily News