Truth vs. Representation in the Presidential Election

Although the presidential election concluded with President Obama's decisive win last week, there are still lessons to be learned from the drawn out campaigns of both candidates. A few weeks ago Professor LaVaque-Manty discussed the idea of truth vs. representation. From the debates to stump speeches, this presidential campaign, more than any other in recent history, featured distortion of facts and statements aimed solely at making a candidate seem more appealing. From Facebook statuses to overhearing others talk at the polls, it was disturbing to see how little people actually knew about the facts on either side.

In order to address the lack of truth and focus on representation along the campaign trail, the first and most prominent example to look at is the debates. Everyone saw that Governor Romney won the first debate, as he came out ready to fight, and was clear and precise in his arguments where President Obama was not. Even though I agreed that Governor Romney won, the focus of the media and those that watched was all wrong. Far too many people focused on the President's lack of enthusiasm, rather than his lack of viable arguments.

The second debate, however, bothered me more than any other aspect of the entire campaign (see below). The President undoubtedly came out focused on being aggressive. With that said, people very frequently confuse aggression with strength. Rather than discuss his 1st term, the President came out attacking Governor Romney and essentially calling him a liar. From a style standpoint, the President was assertive, confident, etc. Social media sites blew up with people praising his performance. I, however, think he only succeeded in making himself appear more competent because people like to see someone overpower another.He did not tell anything of value for America's future, but rather attacked his opponent. To me, the President acted like Governor Romney was the incumbent, and he was the challenger.

The vice-presidential debate was another one that bothered me. Here is an up and coming Republican, finally telling people the truth that Medicare and Social Security need to be reformed in order for America to avoid the fiscal cliff. Rather than receiving credit for telling the hard to come by truth in politics, Paul Ryan is painted as a criminal who is attacking the elderly. The debate set in stone the fact that the entire election was focused on hiding people from as much of the truth as possible.

I understand that I am being biased in writing this, and I understand that this is probably going to bother a lot of people in a school dominated by liberals. I think the Obama campaign was based 100% on altering representation, and had almost nothing to do with the truth. While I did not find Romney's 5 point plan to be feasible, neither was Obama's promise 4 years ago to cut the deficit in half. The way the Obama campaign was run was flawed. The incumbent president is supposed to run a campaign based on the facts of his 1st term. Somehow President Obama, a man who amassed 4 straight trillion+ dollar deficits, was able to be reelected. Many times I found myself wondering if people even knew what a deficit was. Somehow President Obama managed to divert the attention of viewers away from his own record and attack the record of Governor Romney.

To be fair, the Obama campaign was a masterpiece. Rather than focus on the truth of his own first term, the President managed to paint a picture of Governor Romney as some sort of criminal. Focusing solely on the facts of their records, Governor Romney is very moderate and has a strong history of bipartisanship  he at least deserves that. Instead, the Obama campaign worked so well that people on my newsfeed on Facebook were posting statuses such as "If you vote for Romney, you are voting for your grandparents to die." It was unbearable to me when I saw President Obama, as well as half my friends list, focusing on Big Bird rather than the economy, focusing on binders rather than debt. The 2012 election should have been about the economy and the debt, that much is fact. But through a masterful campaign, misrepresentation once again dominated truth.

The Obama campaign was successful because it made Governor Romney appear as all that is bad in America. The hard truth about what America is facing in the upcoming months was pushed behind almost irrelevant issues. To me, there is no greater example of misrepresentation trumping truth than in the recent election. Also, I understand this was a biased post that only brushed over a lot of major issues so feel free to offer some opposition.