	Bob Hostetler > Writing

Where Are the Adults?

by Bob Hostetler

My two children are all grown up. And they've grown up very nicely, thank you (in contrast to their father, who's still working on the whole maturity thing).

But though I don't have children around the house any more, I still get my fill of childish games and immature antics these days-most of them from presidential candidates and their surrogates:

"He's picking on me! Make him stop!" Much of the news in recent weeks has revolved around a book and television ads produced by a group called Switfboat Veterans for Truth. Actually, very little news has been reported about the group and their claims; the primary focus of mainstream media accounts has been Senator Kerry's pleas to President Bush to say publicly that those particular veterans are mean and nasty and should stop. President Bush apparently resisted the impulse to answer, "You're not the boss of me!," while demonstrating roughly the same unwillingness to stick up for his opponent as Kerry has shown in defending Bush against MoveOn.org's vituperative ads.

"He's not playing fair!" You may hear this most often from Republicans and conservatives, regarding the liberal leanings (or failings) of major media outlets. But the bias of such news outlets as ABC, NBC, CBS, CNN, The New York Times, The Washington Post, and The L.A. Times should be a given these days. The New York Times ombudsman recently admitted the Times is a liberal newspaper, and Newsweek editor Evan Thomas bluntly said, "The media want Kerry to win." So when the Democratic convention is lauded for its unity and the Republican convention criticized for trying to look more "moderate" than they really are, no one should be surprised. Instead of whining about media bias, about reporters who are not even pretending to play fair, just get your news from other sources-as more and more people of all political persuasions are doing.

"Made you look!" The political game of "Gotcha!" is becoming more nauseating by the day. Republicans (Vice President Cheney in particular) seize on Senator Kerry's promise to fight a more "sensitive" war if he's elected, as if he's going to send flowers to our nation's enemies. But anyone paying attention knows that he means he will be more sensitive in policy decisions to our allies and opponents (which may be no more reassuring, if you stop to think about it). Similarly, this last week, Democrats jumped all over the president for suggesting in an interview with NBC's Matt Lauer that we "can't win" the war on terror. Again, anyone who actually heard his remarks firsthand should have understood that this president-of all people-believes in winning the war on terror, but not in the conventional sense of ever signing a treaty with our enemies.

"But you promised!" Any parent who has ever told a child "maybe," knows how dangerous that word is. If "maybe" turns into "not this time," the child will scream, "But you promised!" That's similar to the incessant refrain of the president's opponents that he "lied" about weapons of mass destruction (among other things, supposedly). Parents know the futility of trying to reason with "But you promised!" It's hopeless to point out that Bush, Kerry, and the United Nations Security Council all came to the same conclusions using the same information, just as it's hopeless to tell a three-year-old, "I didn't promise that you could go out and play, I said 'if it stopped raining.'" Yeah, right. Tell it to Michael Moore.

"My dad can whip your dad!" Americans didn't elect President Bush to be a wartime president, but that's what they got. And the Democrats, apparently sensitive to that reality, put on a convention that (on the surface, at least) honored military service like no Democratic convention since before the days of George McGovern. And Kerry sounds downright pugilistic when he says, "If the White House wants to make national security the central issue of this campaign…Bring it on!" Conversely, President Bush is often criticized for talking and swaggering like a cowboy, and leading America into an "unnecessary" war. But all of that seems childish; "Who's tougher?" is much less relevant than "Whose policies will get the job done?"

"Nyah nyah nyah nyah nyah nyah." Ben Affleck is a Kerry supporter. So is Whoopi Goldberg. And John Mellencamp. And so on and so on. By contrast, the number of Hollywood millionaires supporting Bush is meager-paltry, even. Still, a disturbing number of folks seem to derive a lot of satisfaction from keeping track of who's for whom.

It's all so childish. It makes me wanna puke. If I weren't so mature myself, I'd stick my tongue out at the whole bunch, take my marbles, and go home. But instead, I'll vote. Because, despite the adolescent behavior on both sides, that is the grown-up thing to do.

This article appeared in the September 3, 2004 edition of the Hamilton Journal-News.

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