The midterm elections of 2010 are described as one of the biggest and most important elections of recent history. Indeed we are in a big turning point in our history. We are slowly coming out of a recession that crippled our economy and the faith we put in our government. We currently have a president different then we are used to, whom many support and many hate. All the while our debt is increasing at an unsustainable rate, threatening with a possible double dip in our recession. With this in mind, being someone who has first hand seen how the recession can cripple businesses and lives, it would seem natural that people only want to help our President or at least seek a way to better this terrible economic situation that we are in. While watching the election coverage on multiple networks I saw something that upset me.
While sitting in Meredith watching the elections I observed several different things. The news coverage for the most part was good, it kept us up to date on who was in the lead of the elections and up to date coverage on all breaking news. But, one thing that seemed to be off is that it didn’t really matter so much the names of who was running or what exactly they stood for. The only thing that seemed to really matter to the stations and even a lot of the people observing the news reports was two little colors, red and blue. Granted, political parties have always been in our lives and always will be, but it seems as if this was covered more as a competition between teams then an election. There was a constant ticker on the bottom for who was in the lead of the house race and for the senate race. When the election results came in the celebrations were we won or oh great they got another one. Should politics be viewed as a competition like this? Should we focus less on what team the person plays for and more on what they stand for and can do to better this nation? That seems better than just rooting for one side to win, especially when some people on that side may differ greatly from others.
Another thing that struck me was on the cover of USA today there was a picture of Obama. In this picture, he was walking with a very distraught look on his face, in the background was pure red. I thought this did a really good job of showing the results of the election especially as portrayed by certain parts of the media. Some stations raved about the Republicans being able to stop the Obama agenda while others talked about how this was going to ruin everything he has worked for. It is strange that it has to be that way. Where the Democrats and the Republicans have the mindset of having to stop one and other in order to save the country. I hope with the different parties now in control of different parts of government, that they can find some degree of cooperation. Because, if instead on moving forward they just try to counter each other’s goals, it would not result in anything good for this country. However, if they do indeed cooperate, both parties could come to an agreement on policies to better the country’s ailing economy, they could really do some good.
It will be interesting to see where this new set of leaders in our government will take us. Will we take a turn for the better, working to create a better future, or will we squabble in our differences and end up hurting the country even more. It will be interesting to see what happens. –Travis Ormsby
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