Political Ceasefire: Honor and Service

McCain and Obama chose to recognize the 7th anniversary of 9/11 by calling a truce for the day. McCain went to Pennsylvania this morning to honor the victims of Flight 93. Both candidates have halted their advertising and plan to be at Ground Zero together to lay wreaths in honor of the victims. Neither of them will be giving an address, and they plan to have a conversation with each other about what they would do if they became president to encourage public service. This conversation is part of the ServiceNation Summit 2008, a two-day event that is part of a larger effort to get Congress to pass bipartisan national community service legislation into law by September 11, 2009.

The first thing I noticed about the articles relating to this story, was the language used to portray what is, quite simply, a break from active campaigning - a time to remember what happened 7 years ago and how we got to where we are today (whatever your view of that is). But the headlines and stories call it a "ceasefire", a "truce", and "a temporary halt to their fierce political skirmishing". I wish the campaigns were just part of a contest in which the best (wo)man wins, and I wish I could say that it's just the media who are making the campaigns out to be a battle. But I don't think that's the case. I think modern campaigning really does rely heavily on negative ads, rumors and unwarranted research into the other candidates, which escalates an otherwise honest campaign into an almost war-like mania that we all get tired of.

It is worth noting that some of the political moves made by candidates are honorable and respectful, like the well-timed effort for calling attention to each of their plans regarding public service. As a result of 9-11, many Americans felt called to serve the country in various ways, and I think it's a good strategy to renew that energy of service on this anniversary date.

http://www.reuters.com/article/politicsNews/idUSN1114675720080911?feedType=RSS&feedName=politicsNews; http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0908/13367.html