Stern Quizzes Obama Supporters

"Do you support Obama because he's pro life or because he wants to keep our troops in Iraq?"

As students of Political Science, all of us are aware of the fundamental differences between Republicans and Democrats generally speaking. We can see how the question above seems contradictory.

But when the Howard Stern Show hit the streets and questioned voters why they supported Obama, most voters did not see a problem.  In fact, they missed basic facts about the election.   The interviewees even believed that Sarah Palin was a "great pick" for Obama's running mate. For me, this was a huge eye opener. It is crazy to believe that so many individuals are not informed of what we consider to be common knowledge.  It is upsetting that the masses are so impressionable.  It is suggested by Howard Stern that these men and women are voting solely because of race.  Perhaps this does demonstrate how important the race card is in this year's election. I, along with most,  feel that race, gender, etc should be irrelevant.  Unfortunately, this is a naive expectation and undoubtedly idealistic.

The most important message of this post is that we as society should be educating voters or else we are more susceptible to the deceit and tricks of "dirty politics."  It is the shame that the issues are not of utmost importance when it comes down to the election.  I am positive the same is true of McCain supporters.  Perhaps this is something we can strive for.