One of the reasons I call this blog Op-ed Madison is that I am fan of the op-ed page of The New York Times. They have a new regular contributor, Gail Collins, apparently a Maureen Dowd wannabe, which is OK, but sometimes writers like this are too cute for our own good. Her recent column, “Change on the Cheap” (July 26, 2007), assails John and Elizabeth Edwards for being willing to give up tangerines because of the amount of energy it takes to get them to market. This type of article is exactly what trivializes politics and gets us distracted from looking at the fundamental issues that would motivate such comments by a candidate in the first place.
John Edwards is a serious candidate with a passion for issues like global warming, health care, poverty, and this God-awful war in Iraq. Dealing with global warming is going to require sacrifice and change in how we live in this country. We are going to have to work much harder on conservation, probably pay more for the energy we do consume (or the same as we are paying now while using less because we are conserving). There’s nothing wrong with stating that, but there is something wrong with trivializing this by focusing on a statement about giving up tangerines as if that were the heart of the matter.
Any candidate for national office is a target, but let’s make sure that our criticisms are either based on honest disagreements with the candidates or that they are truly out to lunch in their positions. Anyone who reads what I have to say in this column will soon ascertain that I am a liberal (and proud to say so) and that I find Republican candidates and their pandering to the folks whose issues center around God, guns, and gays despicable. On occasion, I will also disagree with liberal candidates, but it won't be because of some offhand remark that I can somehow stretch into one of these posts. Entertaining columns are great but not at the expense of getting in the way of serious consideration of the problems we have in this country and potential solutions being offered by our candidates. At least that’s the way I see it.
—John Woods, July 31, 2007
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One of the things that will characterize the presidential campaign is the endless posturing with words. Gee, hasn't that always? Many comments to the columnists are more thoughtful and often more accurate than the published piece. So maybe it's up to people with keyboards to keep things at a higher level.
Everything can be trivialized if no one speaks up.
Thanks
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