Looking Backwards

Admittedly, I haven't seen that much of this Republican debate. But from what I've seen, and from what I've seen in previous debates, it's striking to me how much of the focus is on the candidates pasts on whose record is the most purely conservative. Very little attention is being paid to the candidates' policies to what it is they want to do as president to improve Americans' lives. They gesture in the direction of policy ideas, but there's no real debate about them; nobody is running because he has a program to help people with their problems, or complaining that his rivals' program isn't good.

Comments

Help ... people?

Posted by jhupp | January 5, 2008 7:53 PM

Well, of course they're concentrating on past records; Who in their right mind trusts a politically expedient promise in the present, when it contradicts past performance?

Posted by Brett Bellmore | January 5, 2008 8:29 PM

Gee, based on your "smear" post and this one, I'm starting to think that you simply aren't paying attention now, and haven't paid attention in a long, long time. I just heard the end of the Republican debate, and it was all forward looking stuff on energy policy. There was plenty of room for disagreement, but it wasn't "backward looking" at all.

Posted by James Robertson | January 5, 2008 8:43 PM