Pack Away the Pundits

The one thing that this presidential race has shown is that the pundits are about as useful a magic eight ball in predicting the outcome of this race. Whether it was last years numerous predictions about exactly when Senator McCain would drop out of the race, and who he would support when he did; or the Clinton 'inevitablity' statements, at almost every turn the media has guessed wrong. However, in a race that is historic and fascinating pundits are still endlessly featured on every cable news network.

Here's a suggestion for the media, put away your crystal ball and do some reporting. There are plenty of issues that all three candidates address frequently that the media never bothers to discuss. Last week there was a back and forth between the Obama and McCain campaign about diplomacy, who a president talks to and under what circumstances. This was covered in the media as campaign bickering when in reality this is a serious issue that deserved more that superficial grade school level reporting.

If the press is looking for a new aspect of the race to cover report, how about the effect the internet is having on the race. This is a completely new and unknown element of politics. Does it help? Could it hurt? Will there be a backlash from Obama supporters over the top Clinton criticisms, or will this just get lost in cyberspace? Who reads political blogs? Who comments on political blogs? This is something completely new and the main steam media covers this like it does many topics; very lightly. It will be interesting to see as the internet continues to develop if the main stream media's lack of depth will limit its future.