The season of premiers!

Monday – September 27, 2010

The Season of Premiers!

This week and last week all the networks and cable stations will air their new shows and hopefully come out on top with Emmy Awards. This is the goal. This is why we have fall premiers. Every two years we have elections and the prize is the election to office. The new shows are carefully scripted, as are the new candidates.

Yesterday, was the 50th anniversary of the Kennedy-Nixon debates. The debates were the first televised debates in history. The debates were known as the “Great Debates.” The debates set in motion a new media devoted to cover politics and probably one party. These debates debuted on September 26, 1960. 70 million viewers tuned in to watch then Senator, John F. Kennedy, of Massachusetts share the stage with Vice President Richard Nixon. The first of four televised debates centered on domestic issues. The high point of the second debate was over the disagreement of U.S. involvement in two small islands off the Coast of China, the third debate also covered the question of Vietnam. The fourth and final debate focused on American relations with Cuba.

I bring up the anniversary today, because we are beginning to witness the midterm debates. Some candidates will have them and some won’t. Some candidates will play the game of wanting three while the other guy says I want two. In any case, it is a tradition and some of us look forward to them.

The Great Debates afforded us the opportunity to see the candidates in competition for votes. The contrasts this year will focus on big government versus small government, more federal regulation versus less federal regulation, strict Immigration versus lenient immigration. Other issues will be the economy and healthcare. This is the season of your choice. This is the season that you decide.

I bring up the great debates, because I remember them. I remember the chatter afterwards. I remember the headlines: Kennedy Won! After some deliberation and 50 years of history some other facts have come out. If you listened to the debates on radio Nixon won, but if you viewed them Kennedy won. Kennedy looked young with his tan while Nixon was pale because of the flu and surgery two weeks prior.

If you listened to the debates then and didn’t view the debates you heard the words, because the words were important. The country was on the verge of war. The country was experiencing a new prosperity and the question of civil rights was just beginning. Kennedy went on to win the election by less than 1 %.

The results gave the country a new brand of leader. The results gave the country a vision of youth and a new way to deal with the countries problems and the countries greatness. Just as the country learned to accept the new young leader that was projected by the new media of TV, he was taken from us.

As we enter this fall season, I cannot hesitate to think the following. If the Great Debates didn’t occur we might not have had the assassination. We would not have fought in Vietnam, the Bay of Pigs and the missile crisis would not have happened and the civil rights movement might have been based on personal responsibility, instead of government responsibility. Watergate might not have happened and relations with China might have been delayed. This is a big what if, but every event that occurred then might have been over shadowed by other events just as important. LBJ would not have become President and Nixon might have been able to serve out two full terms.

You see, elections do have consequences. Elections do have an impact on history in the present and the future. In any case, we, as Americans, do have the ability to direct our destiny. By listening instead of just viewing, your opinions will be shaped in different ways. Your opinions will change the outcome of the paths that have been laid out before us.

This week, the Mideast peace talks are at the fracture point before the looming deadline at the end of the month. Last week, the President had a bad week with rumors and confirmations of his top advisors leaving. I think this is good, because I believe this president has gotten bad advice. He has not listened and we, in turn, have gotten the short end.

50% of the nation’s voters give the president poor marks for his handling of the economy, as most Americans lack confidence in the president’s advisors. The jobless rate is inching up once again as the economy is still in the doldrums. 52% of the nation’s voters now say their views are closer to the tea parties. I believe that voters are now playing the listening game rather than the viewing game. According to Rasmussen, 61% of the nation’s voters favor repeal of the president’s healthcare plan. This is the highest level of opposition measured since May.

This election season is the premier of what we will begin to see leading up to November and the election of 2012. The objective is to do more listening than viewing. We will begin to correct the wrongs that have been made in the last two years. The premier this season is about to debut!

Gregory C. Dildilian
Founder and Executive Director
Pinecone Conservatives

A footnote: There are 36 days for the premiere of the new season of politics. The debut will be an important one because it will script the way forward to 2012.