Every election year, without fail, light is shed on some candidate’s involvement in something “scandalous”, or part of a candidate’s past in uncovered, in the hopes of discrediting them in the eyes of voters and consequently losing their votes. This year has been no differ. With the 2016 Presidential Election in full swing, some of the presidential hopefuls, along with the media, are doing anything they can to trump up stories and scandals about their opponents in attempts to gain more votes.
What makes me frustrated is that most of the time (there have of course been instances that have not followed this pattern), these stories can cause many voters to switch their allegiance, while it may have nothing to do with a candidate’s ability to run the country. For example, the Clinton email “scandal”. Firstly, and most notably, the kerfuffle raised by the Republican Party concerning the private server of Secretary Clinton (which had been approved at the time of it’s inception) is absolutely atrocious. The possibility that having her own email server could have compromised her ability as Secretary of State to keep national secrets is ludicrous, yet has enough of an inkling of reality that it has been able to sway some voters. Just recently, “highly classified emails” were found on Secretary Clinton’s server. But these emails were classified after the fact. When they were sent, they did not contain classified information. Let’s also keep in mind that the State Department already cleared all the emails the server contained months ago. While this may sway many voters who are undecided on their candidate thus far, I remain unfazed. I have no reason to believe that Hillary Clinton’s ability to lead is at all tied into how she handles her emails. Aside from the recent allegations made towards Secretary Clinton, It seems as though very few of these controversies hold any real substance in terms of making or breaking a presidential candidate.
The media may eat up these stories, but, on a large scale, they do little more than distract from the real issues. Some candidates may be more absorbed in attacking their opponents than discussing topics important to the American people, which only serves to inflate their egos rather than contribute anything meaningful to the race to the White House.
Publius 2.0 