COMMENTARY | Last night's CNN-sponsored GOP debate in Nevada gave us a picture of the true culprits of our country's economic despair. A presidential hopeful claiming that the middle- and lower-class victims of the recession are to blame for being unemployed and impoverished, then claiming they were being exploited by lobbyists, politicians, accountants facilitating the current tax code. Another claimed that religious values can determine one's abilities, while yet another promised to continue an "American tradition" that needs to end: not negotiating. The 2012 GOP candidates bring promises of changes, but mirror the status quo of the Washington they aim to change.
Ad hominem attacks on personal religious faith, usage of or leniency towards undocumented immigrants, replaced true debates of political policy. Rather than a stellar policy proposal, the most poignant scene from Tuesday's is former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney getting physical with Texas Governor Rick Perry over the former's alleged hypocritical pursuit of illegal immigrants. However, the issue here is not their mini-fracas, but what motivated it.
Amidst a critique of Perry's position on illegal immigrants-particularly the issue of granting tuition aid to certain illegal immigrant children-Romney was forced to defend his alleged decision to continue employing a landscaping contractor after learning it employed illegal immigrants dating back to 2006. As Perry began assaulting Romney's credibility on the illegal immigration issue Romney was so flabbergasted, all he could manage was "I'm speaking, I'm speaking" and resting a punitive hand on the Texas governor's shoulder.
To be fair, Perry still refused to refute comments from an associate claiming that Romney's Mormon religion was a "cult" and former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum led the way in claiming that personal faith shouldn't be judged in terms of "the road to salvation", but that the tenets of one's religion will show what values are most important to that individual and give an accurate portrayal of them "as a president or a senator or any other job".
It would be nice if our elected officials showed as much passion for stopping school budget cuts and ensuring that jobs actually return to the United States as they did for slandering each others character.
Speaking in Nevada, home to the nation's highest foreclosure rates, the candidates displayed either lukewarm concern or no interest at all in the housing calamity, until prompted by an audience member. Economics were discussed, but it was largely broadsides at Herman Cain's "9-9-9" economic plan, and Cain's awkward attempt to claim his opponents were mixing "apples and oranges" in attacking his proposed makeover of the American tax code. Cain did however, fail to mention who would really benefit under his tax plan, echoing the lack of transparency in Washington on such issues, and a seemingly greater desire to bicker over how to rather than actually fixing the nation's economic crisis.
Instead illegal immigration was a hot button topic throughout the debate, used in an attempt to scapegoat undocumented citizens for the disappearance of jobs and absolve the businesses shipping those jobs overseas. Rep. Michele Bachmann of Minnesota insinuated that legislation to alter the 14th Amendment-along with the costly construction of a barrier wall along the U.S. border-was needed to curb the problem posed by "anchor babies" instead of citing that 2.9 million American jobs were cut by American companies and 2.4 million of the jobs were outsourced overseas in the same calendar year. When she did address the job issue it was in the typically vague fashion of other self-proclaimed job creators: full of energy but lacking a clear method for how to accomplish the goal. She did however artfully manage to continue her assault on President Obama while attacking her onstage opponents.
The real problems are so routinely dismissed it's almost taken for granted they will be. Along with the assault of Cain's 9-9-9 plan, his fellow presidential hopefuls criticized him for something he hadn't yet done: a hypothetical negotiation with terrorists to save an American soldier's life in light of the exchange of one Israeli prisoner for 1,000 Palestinian prisoners from the Hamas terrorist group. Cain claimed he'd be open to the discussion, and opened the floodgate for attacks on his patriotism since as Rep. Bachmann claimed, "We don't negotiate".
Indeed we don't negotiate We instead make claims that a liberal president would drive the tax up to 90% under Cain's 9-9-9 plan, that judging the road to salvation is wrong but judging the religious tenets of that highway can define one's professional character, and that slandering character trumps sound political, fiscal, and social policy. America will remember Romney and Perry's awkward exchange, but hopefully also remember them as an example of the kind of politics that needs to leave this country for good.
Hopefully, we'll remember a quote from Newt Gingrich instead: "bickering is probably not the road to the White House.
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