When issues are buried, Personality replaces Politics [View All]

[Armstead]

Looking at the tone of this board, and the general tone of the primaries, it seems clear that the Democratic Party is experiencing what the United States has been going through for 30 years.

The Politics of Personality has replace the Politics of Meaning.

The seems to be a direct inverted relationship between the emphasis on personality and the degree to which real issues and substance are part of politics. Less substance means more personality, and vice versa.

Before and during the primary process, battles among Democrats were based on something basic and substantial . It was about whether the Democratic Party should assert itself as the party of liberal/progressive populism or if it should continue to be a "centrist" party that was primarily a line of defense against the GOP rather than a party of activism.

Different candidates represented this, to varying degrees. Kucinich was the unvarnished progressive liberalism, John Edwards was close, but in a more mainstream way. Hillary represented the established centrist approach. Obama seemed to be a fusion of progressive and centrism.

Now, it seems like those underlying differences and debates have been burned away. What it's about now is personality and "identity politics."

Hillary is a woman. Obama is an African American. Hillary is cold, calculating, warm, caring.....whatever positive or negative persdonal attributed people project onto her. Same with Obama. He is either inspirational or a nut with a messiah complex. He either has a grasp of the future or is a snake-oil salesman....etc.

I guess we're stuck with that. But it's a shame this campaign can;t really about where the candidates want to take the country at least as much as whether their packaging is appealing or not.