A Change Must Be Made in Political Speeches

In watching the presidential candidate conventions of both parties over the past few weeks, I noticed one factor that remained the same in both parties. This is the fact that both the democrats and republicans ridiculed each other’s campaigns. Obama encouraged the democrats not to vote for McCain. He did so by claiming that McCain in office will resemble the past eight years of President Bush, a president who Obama clearly does not agree with in term of politics. Palin, running for the position of vice-president alongside McCain, claims that people should not vote for Obama because when all his well-presented speeches are through and done, Obama does not have “good” plans for the country. One interesting thing I noticed from their speeches is that each time they did say something bad about their opponent, the crowd would roar much louder than when the candidate presented an actual idea. After all the conventions were over, I reflected upon the ideas that each candidate presented, and found that they were overshadowed by all of the comments that each candidate said about their opponent.
Although “trash-talking” an opponent seems to be a normal thing in present day politics, I don’t think it should be. I think each candidate should focus on solely their own issues or ideas, and not try to gather more votes by making the opposing candidate somehow look under qualified. If each candidate does this rather than speaking poorly about their opponent, than the people of the United States will have a better understanding of what each candidate’s ideas are. However, based on the reaction of the crowd, it seems that the general public of people may like it when the candidates speak badly about their opponents. So, I am left with one question, is this a good strategy to have in politics, or is it overshadowing the ideas that each candidate has for the country?