On April 4th the 2012 election officially began. President Obama surprised no one by announcing his bid for re-election approximately nineteen months before the election.
The nomination and election process is too long.
It seems like just yesterday that the midterm elections concluded and the process of the next election has already begun. President Obama is hoping to raise $1 billion for his campaign over the next nineteen months, which begs the question: is any election worth that?
The race for the GOP nomination is also starting to heat up as former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney, former Minnesota governor Tim Pawlenty, Minnesota congresswoman Michelle Bachman, and former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich have all formed exploratory committees which will lay the groundwork for an eventual run for president.
Other GOP members including Mississippi governor Haley Barbour, Indiana governor Mitch Daniels, and Virginia governor Bob McDonell are rumored to be exploring the possibility of a Presidential run.
What happened to elected officials actually doing their job and charting a path for the country in the position they hold for another year and a half?
The 2008 election was historic and the longest in the history of the United States.
Did the first ten months of that marathon election show the voters anything that they couldn’t have found out in the last nine months of a campaign? Did the first ten months of meaningless campaigning really show that then Senator Obama would be a better President than Hilary Clinton or John McCain?
No. If anything, they showed that whoever spends the most wins.
The Presidential election process is very important. All candidates should be dragged over the coals by the media and voters, but does that really take nineteen months and millions of dollars? In the age of Facebook, Twitter, and the twenty four-seven news cycle would the voters know any less about candidates if the election started eight months later?
Why not start the campaign in April of 2012? The power of the internet and social medial allow voters to become familiar with candidates in minutes, not months.
Our elected officials should not be worrying about being elected. The President, members of Congress, and governors should be worried about accelerating the lethargic economy, creating jobs, reducing the debt, tackling spiraling healthcare costs and fixing the immigration system among other things. An election, that is nineteen months away, should be the last thing on their minds if they are the public servants they pretend to be.
As the election process quickly becomes the main function of government, more and more politicians are elected because they run for office well, which doesn’t always translate to governing well.
Condensing the election process to a shorter period of time eliminates cheesy county fair photo ops and would place more emphasis on debates and policy speeches during the campaign. This emphasizes skills candidates need as President and would end the seemingly endless cycle of campaigning that has taken over the American political system.
A shorter process based more on resume than campaign slogans and empty promises will produce better presidents, which is the ultimate goal of the election process.
Millions of dollars are wasted every month on campaigns for election over a year and a half away. The government should be focused on governing, not campaigning. Delaying the start of the Presidential nominating process would allow leaders to lead, voters to live their lives, and encourage candidates that can govern just as well as they can campaign.