It seems as though our state’s politicians hit new lows across the board in their campaigning during the primary season. From the bloodbath between Loleta Didrickson and Peter Fitzgerald to John Schmidt’s infamous portrayal of Glenn Poshard as a dictator, both parties proved they have an equal penchant for sleaze disguised as “negative ads.”
What seemed worse in this season’s ads, compared to previous elections, is that candidates are far more willing to misrepresent their opponents’ records and positions in nearly slanderous attacks. Certainly John Schmidt doesn’t believe that Glenn Poshard prefers the destruction of the environment, yet campaign commercials suggested that he does. Republicans proved no better in many races, as shown by Fitzgerald and Didrickson.
Though negative campaigning is nothing new, these pols seem to be taking their cues from the success of the Democratic National Committee and the Clinton/Gore campaign. Bob Dole and the rest of the Republicans never wanted to destroy the environment, starve the poor and the elderly, hurt children, ruin education, blow a hole in the deficit, and were less than half responsible for shutting down the government. But in the new standard of political debate, these misrepresentations are an acceptable and effective tool. In today’s political ads issues are clouded with metaphorical rhetoric.
Politicians can now not only misrepresent their opponents’ positions and accomplishments but their own as well. This sort of campaigning even made it into this year’s State of the Union address, when President Clinton pronounced as one of his achievements the smallest government in 30 years. It sounded politically impressive but it is only truthful in the narrowest of definitions.
The short-term effect of the metaphorical approach to politics is likely to be even fewer people at the polls as more people lose interest in politics. Unless this approach loses its appeal to candidates, we will have forever lowered the bar on political discourse. Illinois pols seem to have already moved as far as possible away from the Lincoln-Douglas debates.
