McCain's going to need a lot more than yoga

I’m going to have to hand it to Gail Collins for hitting the nail on the head –or should I say “nailing the Jell-O to the wall,” this morning in her New York Times column. She says that with twenty days to go in the race for the presidency “the candidates are gearing their remarks to people who have managed to completely ignore nearly two years of news about the 2008 elections.”

Which means anyone who is already informed will just have to suffer?

The only reason most of these people are undecided is because the only time they pay attention to the nominees is during the debates. If this is where you’re getting all of your information, you might as well take a quarter with you into the voting booth and call it heads or tails.

The undecided voters interviewed on NBC last night want someone to spoon-feed them information. Their questions sounded like whining, “But he didn’t mention this,” and “They didn’t explain that,” “There weren’t enough details about whatever,” and on and on. I mean, educate yourself, people. Go to the candidates’ websites. I doubt you have. Sift through Obama’s rhetoric (http://www.barackobama.com/issues/), make sense of McCain’s proposals (http://www.johnmccain.com/Informing/Issues/), and if all of that is too partisan for you, check the facts (http://www.factcheck.org/). Cut your losses, and make a decision.

If it wasn’t evident last night, these two candidates disagree on virtually every issue, which gives voters the advantage. If you’re undecided, in my opinion, it’s because you’re not informed –and watching three debates does not make you informed.

Twice now, in my yoga class, the instructor has paused and asked the students, “Where are your thoughts right now?” She says that everyone has a tendency to think about events in the past, or their plans for the future. The first time she asked, I came to class feeling agitated, tired, and annoyed. My thoughts were hung up on a tangle of frustrating events. Yesterday when she asked, I came to class feeling lighter, optimistic, and prepared. When she asked, I my thoughts were in the future, and my excitement prevailed.

It’s not hard to determine that McCain’s actions in the past two weeks are motivated by the fact that he has fallen behind in the polls. Is it possible that he feels annoyed? Agitated? Even tired of this long campaign to the White House? It’s no wonder that he is focusing on the past by attacking Obama’s former relationship with Professor Bill Ayers. It’s nearly impossible for him to focus on the issues when he can’t think clearly into the future. In the end, McCain is going to need a lot more than yoga to get out of this negative rut. His criticisms were clear last night, but were lost in his delivery.
Obama was riding high on a wave of optimism and recent success, so it came as no surprise that he was able to calmly articulate his plans for the future. The only time that he referred to something in the past was to response to his frustrated running mate. So, if you’re still undecided, here’s about as basic as it gets: would you rather have a president who’s hung up on the past, or one who is thinking about your future?