From HuffPo: Why are the gaffes so important?

As I was perusing the various and sundry political websites I frequent on my lunch break (What? You don't spend your free time reading articles on tax policy? Weird), I happened upon this opinion piece from none other than Arianna Huffington, of the Huffington Post. HuffPo is an unapologetic left leaning blog that I read in order to hear from the other side. She wrote an excellent article on "gaffe grenades and faux outrage", which asked the simple question: Why are politicians who run for the highest office so wooden? What is it about the presidential race that sucks the life out of them?

It made me wonder: Why is running for president so diminishing? What is it about the process that turns thoughtfulness and confidence into desperation and insincerity? Why is it assumed that the only route to the highest office is the lowest road possible?

We have 25 million people unemployed or underemployed. We're on the edge of falling back into recession and none of the problems that led to this seemingly endless financial crisis have been solved -- or even really addressed. And yet our presidential campaign has devolved into a never-ending contest to see which side can catch other side in the worst "gaffe."

And it's not just about catching the other side in meaningless gaffes. When the gaffes don't come along at a steady enough clip, the campaigns just make them up. Who says we're losing our manufacturing prowess to the Chinese? If you factor in our robust and growing Gaffe Manufacturing Sector, we're still number one. (USA! USA! USA!)

Context is often used as a go-to word that actually means "When I said x, I really meant y", but it actually is very important in communication. For instance, when Romney said "I like to fire people", he wasn't saying he liked to fire people per se, but that he wants businesses to have to compete to get his money, which is how the market works. When Obama said "You didn't build that", he clearly wasn't saying that business owners didn't own their businesses, but that the environment in which businesses thrive is built by everyone. Taken in the context, you may or may not agree with the sentiment behind a comment, but at least it is a valuable part of the conversation.

The answer to why the campaign is about gaffe's is this: They are easy. They are short. They don't take long to digest, and they fill up airtime.

It would take time and effort on the part of the candidate to explain his position on tax policy in a way that people could understand. More importantly, it would take time and effort on the part of the electorate (In other words, you and me) to understand the policies that our politicians are espousing. It would mean having a discussion, getting your opinions challenged, and coming up with a meaningful solution. Isn't it easier to simply play a 5-second clip on why the other candidate endorses puppy mills?

Vote Romney and the kitten gets it.

What's the solution? In my opinion, it's courage. The courage on the part of a politician to not fear the gaffe machine, and simply speak passionately about what he believes. To not be afraid to explain his policies and hold them up for scrutiny. Perhaps if a politician stopped acting so much like a damn politician, people would take the time to listen.