So here is a creative challenge for those of us in the blogosphere and the emergent democracy movement:
How can we hold everyone in the presidential campaigns and election accountable for their statements and their biases/perspectives. Right now, the press jumps on one candidate or another, and asks superaccountability. Meanwhile other candidates are given a pass, at least temporarily. This process, in my view, has both a good and bad side. The good side is that it tests and tempers the political candidate–the person who hopes to be president. It is how we make steel in this country. The bad side is that the process is not systematic or fair.
How could we systematically hold everyone in the process to a high level of accountability? How could we hold accountable the election officials? The FEC? The independent non-profit organizations like MoveOne.org and the Campaign for Growth? How could we hold the press accountable, each day?
All of us need to be accountable in the sense of (1) staying with facts, and (2) being honest and transparent with respect to our personal interests, our interpretive perspectives, and our biases.
In extremis, Al Franken has done an effective and entertaining job of holding pundits Ann Coulter and Bill O’Reilly accountable. But this is not a systemic improvement of accountability across the presidential campaign ecosystem. It is not comprehensive even with regard only to journalists. Al’s book does not improve realtime, daily, immediate accountability, and it only focuses on a few journalists who–in my view–are especially eggregious in their behavior. In these cases, Al Franken’s book is unlikely to cause any change at all in either Coulter or O’Reilly’s behavior.
I’m wondering: How we can shine an ongoing, daily light of accoutability on those involved in helping select a leader for the United States?
PS: I’m blogging this at 1:15 AM from my office at Dean for America, in Burlington, Vermont. The temperature is already well below zero. The predicted wind chill tonight is 30 below zero (no kidding). It has been a long, long, busy day.
My peaceful house west of Boston, with my little Buddhist guide figure, misses me! I’m enclosing the picture below as much for me as for you. An image of serenity that I treasure as I sit here relaxing, blogging, finding some rest and humor before traveling the windy, frigid path to Wendy and Kelly’s, to sleep.
“guide in snow”
