by Pettus Read

Since many papers carrying my column consider it an opinion piece, then I hope you understand that this column is just that. It is my opinion and not necessarily the opinion of the organization I work for, the church I attend, the stores I shop with, any committee I serve on, my community, my state, my country, my world, my family, my dog, or anything else that is remotely associated with me. It is just an opinion, which everyone in this country can have, and nothing else. Hopefully, this covers it all for a disclaimer.

Maybe I have become tough to please in my old age, but the recent debate between our two candidates for president, held in Nashville, was about as exciting as having your teeth cleaned. The excitement I experienced was due mostly from the fact that the debate was held in our capital city at Belmont University. Our local people did a great job in putting on a first class production and as Tennesseans we should all be proud of what they accomplished.

But, for the meat of the debate between the candidates, it seemed to lack something in my opinion. I mean, I kept waiting for each one of them to take the other one on in some serious discussion, but all I heard was the same sound-bytes that you can get on either one of their websites. I know, those of you who are in strong favor of either candidate saw your candidate do a great job, and that's the way it should be, but with times as tough as the news media tells us they are, wouldn't you have liked to have heard more constructive discussion from the next leader o these United States?

No gloves came off and everyone was polite for one hour and thirty minutes. The only one to get somewhat testy was moderator Tom Brokaw due to the two candidates getting between him and his lines on the TelePrompTer. And, I think I know the reason the two candidates stayed with their planned script rather than attempting to deliver an election winning knockout punch. It all goes back to the Kennedy/Nixon debates those many years ago when some makeup person made Richard Nixon look like a mime. Too much theatrical powder helped Nixon lose the election and sealed the fate of further debates for over 48 years. Candidates are gun-shy of messing up, and being under the media microscope causes them as Elmer Fudd once said, "Be vewwy, vewwy careful."

- Pettus L. Read is editor of the Tennessee Farm Bureau News and Director of Communications for the Tennessee Farm Bureau Federation.  He may be contacted by e-mail at pread@tfbf.com

Let's face it, prior to the debate all that the experts could talk about was what kind of mistake either candidate would make and who they would offend. That's just like your boss looking over your shoulder while you are attempting to perform an important task in your job. It takes a lot of courage to run for public office these days and only special people have tough enough skin to survive the attacks. Just like my disclaimer at the beginning of this article, we spend a lot of time trying to be politically correct and often avoid performing statesmen-like actions needed to solve our problems.

We have dug a pretty deep hole in our economy, foreign affairs and other areas that affect us all. It may be time we start looking for statesmen-like qualities in our candidates at all levels of elections to get us out of our troubles, rather than just politicians.

But, in today's politically media vested atmosphere, it is real hard for statesmen to be statesmen. As one economic analyst said recently, "Walter Cronkite and Huntley and Brinkley may have had it right. Thirty minutes of news in the evening is enough for anyone." Twenty-four hours of news, political correctness overload, the failure of a real understanding of the issues by us voters and not being involved in the political process by a majority of eligible voters has had a major impact on our candidate selection process.

In this year's presidential election, which only comes around every four years, make your own decisions by studying the issues and the candidates. Many things you hear or read will not be the complete truth and it will be your responsibility to determine the difference. And, yes, we do have a responsibility in this selection process.

Most importantly, make up your mind one way or the other, get involved and vote!

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