Editorial: Obama Best Positioned To Fight For 'Joe The College Student'

This story was written by ISD Editorial Board, Iowa State Daily

I named my fish Maverick last week, and it got its head bit off.

Great. Lets just write an editorial about that.

Can we include it though? Its actually pretty funny.

We still havent even decided if were doing an endorsement. Did you read the Time article? There are lots of good reasons for newspapers not to do endorsements.

There are lots of good reasons for newspapers not to endorse Gosh darn it, its tradition! isnt going to cut it anymore. Foremost, endorsements cast doubt about the objectivity of the papers political coverage. Readers say they dont understand how the people sharing their opinion on one page can flaunt their objectivity on the other. And while we can assert and we do that all our election coverage was planned before this editorial was ever discussed, and that the decision-makers on the editorial board, minus the editor-in-chief, have absolutely no influence on the decision making of the news desk, readers have no way of verifying that. They have to take our word for it. We cant blame them if they dont, especially given todays media environment.

College newspapers face additional endorsement hurdles. Real-world editorial boards often represent an ideology thats stood for decades, an ideology that changes only when the owner says so. Readers know what to expect from these pages. The Daily Editorial Board, on the other hand, changes every semester. Its current incarnation has two conservatives, two liberals, a socialist and three chilling in the middle of the political spectrum. Ideally, it represents a swath of the student population and a barometer of how campus feels at the moment. Comparing what we write this semester to the editorials of three years ago is like comparing apples to oranges; Alaska to Delaware, if you will.

But theres one value the Daily Editorial Board always holds true: stimulating and leading the discussion on campus. This election is a big deal. We wouldnt be serving our readers if we opted to write nothing at all.

So if we want to stimulate the conversation but not do the standard endorsement, where does that leave us?

Im definitely up for something unconventional.

Have we even decided who were endorsing yet?

Yeah, lets go around the table and talk about that.

Facts, figures and policies are great, but they dont sway people like a real-life anecdote. In fact, its quite possible no one on the editorial board remembers exactly what policies we discussed or what we said about them. One story does stand out:

When I saw Palin in Des Moines this weekend one of the chants was Drill, baby, drill! I didnt realize that was something to get excited about. To me, it exemplified everything thats wrong with the McCain campaign. Its all about short-term fixes, short-term solutions. More oil is great right now, but what does it gain us in 20 years? Palin might have picked up a ton of steam initially, but how exactly is she going to help the country?

Of course, that wasnt the only thing. One member harped on intellectual curiosity, something grievously missing from the White House this past eight years. Several held disdain for Palin, who scared away whatever moderate appeal McCain initially held. The consensus appreciated Obamas steady decision making and handling of his campaign, compared to McCains impulsive, flashy manner. The majority despised the McCain campaigns use of Rovian tactics, and the shortsighted, impotent decision by McCain to suspend his campaign and fix the economic crisis. On econmic policy, we preferred Obama to McCain, although both would benefit by delegating those decisions to someone more qualified. When it came to the idea of fiscal responsibility, McCains support of the economic bailout belies his conservative label, earmarks or not. Really, when the Republicans have been in control the past eight years, what have they done to show they favor small government?

So Obama it is, then?

Wasnt it always going to be on a board with more liberals than conservatives?

So it seems.

Are we sure? If McCain-Palin get elected, we get Tina Fey for four more years.

Palin was great on SNL, though. That pageant experience must have paid off.

Whos writing this?

I will.

Are you including the part about Maverick the fish?

Yeah, probably. If it fits. Its pretty funny.

Isnt it kind of morbid?

That too.

How do eight college students come to a conclusion on which candidate to endorse? They sit around a table in one-hour increments for several meetings waiting for the most vocal people to shoot their mouths off. They care about education, about civil rights, about the economy, about the war, about the job market theyre entering and the world theyll inherit. They care about polar bears and Tiny Fey glasses and integrity.

To steal a trodden-to-death memo from this election: Were Joe the College Student, and were going to vote. For Barack Obama.