Jon Givens

With the major primaries out of the way and not much going on with the candidates other than the same old stump speeches, biased media, both liberal and conservative, from the New York Times to the Kansas City Star serve only to  distract voters from important election issues.

The major story in past weeks has been the reported rantings of the former pastor of Barack Obama’s United Church of Christ.

The Reverend made comments in one of his sermons a few years ago, and these remarks, however inflammatory, have recently been scrutinized by the press and questioned over and over in the media’s attempts to link the pastor’s beliefs to Barack Obama.

Informed readers would be wise to put themselves in Obama’s shoes before placing him and all he stands for in the same category as his pastor. Have you ever disagreed with a homily preached by a good and committed priest or pastor? I know I have.

Did you storm out and quit the church because of one homily? Hardly.

Obama has come to love and trust the man who pastored his family over the years. But he and his pastor are not one in the same person.  

More importantly, we need to ask ourselves this simple question: Does all of this so-called journalism have anything to do with the current election?

Whether you support Obama, McCain, or Clinton, I believe it is clear that these kinds of issues do not reflect in any real way upon what kind of leader Barack Obama would be for our country.

It is, of course, the media’s job to sell newspapers and increase sales revenues from advertising, and these stories certainly are doing that.

But they are also overwhelming voters with insignificant details designed to blur our views of the issues that are most important to us. The media is letting us down. We deserve better. We should demand better.

At this crucial point in the presidential campaign it is time to get past Barack Obama’s race, John McCain’s age, and Hillary Clinton’s gender and connection with (in some people’s eyes) a discredited former president.

None of these qualities will make or break a good President. Instead, let’s look at the issues and where the candidates stand. Lets examine their vision for a better future. Then lets all get out and vote.

Jon Givens is a junior from St. Louis, Mo. and is majoring in mass communications.  He can be reached This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it