Amanda Walters
@amandawalters on Twitter
Every network’s coverage is filled with fancy graphics that
look at the newest polling numbers (both national and state-by-state) and the
newest soundbite from each candidate from (surprise!) Ohio.
Even a lot of the pieces focused on Ohio voters are starting
to all look the same. It’s like I honestly can’t get away from President Obama
and Mitt Romney.
When I turn off the news in hopes of getting away from the
candidates, the ads start popping up. Now you might think that turning the TV
would be the easiest way to solve the problem, but being in the biggest swing
state makes it impossible.
I opened up my mailbox this weekend only to find 10 flyers
from the Obama campaign for me and my boyfriend reminding us to early vote.
(Which we already have)
I was starting to think that the election would become the
bane of my existence as a journalist; something you have to be a part of but
regret every minute of it. Needless to say, I’ve had it up to here with the
presidential race. But 60 Minutes made me believe in journalism again.
Instead of covering the horse-race this week, they decided
to do two pieces to remind us of where we are and how we got there.
The first piece was by Steve Kroft looking at Congress and
how they got to a place where they only had a 13 percent approval rating,
according to a Gallup poll in September.
Much of the distain people have for congress right now is
because of many members’ inability to compromise on matters like taxes and the
deficit. 5-week vacations to visit their
constituents and partisan policies have Congress with little incentive to get
things done.
Kroft interviewed two former Senators who both left their
seats because of the partisanship. Republican Olympia Snow and Democrat Evan
Bayh gave up their seats because they couldn’t deal with Congress’ inability to
strike even the simplest compromise.
Both Snow and Bayh left in order to bring awareness to the
issue of bi-partisanship. Snow said that she felt that she could do more for
the country as a citizen, than as a member of the Senate.
Kroft then interviewed Democratic Majority Leader Harry Reid
and Republican Minority Leader Mitch McConnell. While Kroft tried to talk to
them about why there wasn’t any compromise, both McConnell and Reid tried to
blame the other party for Congress’ failure.
I thought this piece was interesting because it’s something
we’ve lost in all the hysteria about the election – compromise. Pinning two
people against each other like we have pushes each side further away from
making a deal.
We’ve also forgotten the importance of the congressional
races in our coverage. No matter who the President is, they will have to be
able to work with Congress.
The other story I found interesting was about how negative
campaigns have been since the beginning of our country. We often like to color
our past, and our founding fathers with it, as perfect statesman who are above
our negative politics of today.
Historian David McCullough compared this year’s campaigning
to years past, and his answer might surprise you. “Well, Jefferson was paying a slander
specialist, a journalist, to go after Adams, writing that he was mentally
unbalanced. He was a hermaphrodite, all these things.”
The difference, he sees in this campaign, is that there hasn’t
been anything remarkable in a campaign that has seen about a billion dollars in
ad buys.
“Imagine the quantity of words that are being produced and
you think there's anything that's gonna stand the test of time in there? I
haven't heard it yet. We should demand more of them.” McCullough said.
Seeing stories that actually made me think about the
election and sparked debate in my house, reminded me that covering the election
does not mean that you have to do the same exact story that everyone else
already has. For all that – I have to thank 60 Minutes.
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