Barroom politics in Athens
By Mike Barajas
September 29, 2008
Call it liberal, call it progressive, call it an idealistic college town, call it whatever you like – Athens and the Ohio University community are reputed as being politically conscious and active. And as we get closer to the election, it comes as no surprise that it’s increasingly difficult to navigate uptown Athens without being stopped and asked whether you’ve registered to vote or care about the environment (neither of which are bad questions).
Considering the economic implosion of the past two weeks and the crisis in the financial markets, one might think that politics would be at the front of everyone’s minds as Sens. John McCain and Barack Obama went head to head Friday night in Oxford, Miss., in their first presidential debate.
I initially wanted to see what kind of reactions people would have listening to the two candidates banter back and forth over the economy, Iraq and foreign policy. However, during a walk uptown Friday night before the debate, it became clear that beer pong, flip cup and the commotion of OU’s Homecoming weekend had far eclipsed any interest students might have had in watching the two nominees debate.
Uptown, the bars were packed, with people overflowing out onto the sidewalks. Why didn’t people care about what the would-be presidents were saying about the issues and policies that will eventually affect them? I knew the answer couldn’t be simple indifference. As I asked bar-goers why they decided not to watch the debate, I got a number of responses, some of them confusing, some insightful.
Ironically, earlier that day John Gilliom, chair of the Political Science Department at OU, expressed concern over a Friday night presidential debate, saying he was afraid of the potential lack of interest. Yet he was hopeful that the debate had moved toward the forefront as people reacted to the crisis on Wall Street and the panic over the economy.
Gilliom also said that McCain himself had brought more attention to the debate when he threatened to back out early last week, claiming his senatorial duties to help negotiate the proposed $700 billion federal bailout plan trumped any obligation to attend the event. Sen. McCain stated last week that he wouldn’t debate Obama until the Senate reached an agreement on the bailout. “Well, there’s not a deal, and he’s going,” Gilliom said Friday. He insisted that by threatening to call off the debate and “suspending” his campaign, McCain took a gamble – one that he lost.
“He made a horrible mistake, and now he’s paying for it,” Gilliom said. He explained that McCain’s image was already badly damaged in the past two weeks because of his perceived weakness as an economic leader.
As it turned out, some of those uptown Friday night didn’t even know McCain had finally agreed to the debate. One group of guys, appearing genuinely shocked, exclaimed, “I thought McCain dropped out!”
At the Cat’s Eye Saloon, Lisa Ball, an alumnus in town for the weekend, said, “Wow, I didn’t even know there was a debate.” Ball said she’s still an undecided voter.
However, plenty of people said they were out for the night because they had already decided whom they were voting for. As one bar-goer so delicately declared, “If you vote for McCain after the last eight years, you’re…(add your favorite expletive here).” He later said that his mind’s already made up, so there’s no reason to pay attention to the debates.
Patrick McGuire, a graduate film student at OU, stated, “I think the choice is clear cut right now.” He added that he never really planned to watch the debate because he’s already informed on the issues. “I’ll get all the juicy details from my parents tomorrow,” he said.
McGuire had a point. He wasn’t the only one who said they’d just hear about it second-hand the next day. One person quipped, “It’s a thing called TV,” while another simply shouted “Debate on Demand.” All around the bar, the same theme was repeated: “I’ll find out tomorrow what happens anyway.” Maybe they were right. With today’s media, you can hear, watch or read about any political event any time you want. With DVRs common, and the debate available on news Web sites, anyone who really wanted to see the debate, later at his or her own convenience, could do so.
Michael McTeague cited a related, troubling aspects of politics in the mass media today. McTeague, a professor emeritus of history at OU and long-time political analyst, said that many people get their information about debates from pundits in the media, and usually after the fact. The media eventually influence the way a viewer or reader sees an event, he said, because while searching for information, they come across punditry at the same time. Most of the time, McTeague said, it’s nearly impossible to separate the two.
“I don’t think that’s a positive role,” McTeague said, explaining that people don’t analyze and form their own opinions about the candidates, but rather listen to pre-packaged opinions dispersed across television screens and newspapers. “[The media] become opinion makers,” he noted.
McTeague, who currently works in the dean’s office at OU’s Eastern Campus, said that the best way to understand a debate is to watch it in full, and then read the transcript so you can pick up subtle nuances in speech and of the candidates.
THOUGH IT’S UNFAIR TO assume how politically informed someone is, it’s safe to say that not all of those uptown on Friday night will read the debate transcript, or go back and watch the video in full. Unfortunately, McTeague’s prediction is fairly accurate: most people, if they do anything at all, will depend on a 15-minute redacted form of the debate, and thus make their opinion on how it went – or rely on some pundit’s opinion to form their own.
From both political poles, I’ve heard countless times around campus how important this election is. Unfortunately, the first time the candidates had a thorough dialogue about their policies and positions, most students are going to have to hear about it through headlines, summaries and talking points.
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