Big Businesses Fuel the Campaign

The third and final presidential debate was surprisingly substantial; after two lackluster "debates" that seemed more like joint press conferences, Wednesday night's debate actually found the candidates interacting with each other and engaging in a comprehensive discourse about often ignored topics such as abortion and education. I had watched the other debates live on television, but due to travel I watched the final debate on CNN's website the next day (http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/10/15/debate.poll/index.html#cnnSTCVideo). I was actually interested in the debate, and I thought that moderator Bob Schieffer did an exemplary job in addressing new issues instead of asking the candidates to regurgitate old information. Although there was some redundancy, by and large the debate was effective.

Since debates are broadcast live, they are not interrupted by commercials. I had watched previous debates with other people, and we did not even consider the advertisements that were aired before and after the debates. However, as I sat at my computer and waited for the video of the last debate to load, a 30-second commercial for Exxon-Mobil began to play. Only a few minutes later, during the debate, Obama criticized McCain for giving subsidies to oil companies, "such as Exxon-Mobil." I chuckled at the irony, since this same company was sponsoring a website on which many people would be watching the debate. The second part of the debate also needed to load, and a slick commercial for Hyundai flashed across the computer screen. In the following part of the debate, while addressing the energy crisis, Obama explained the need for the U.S. to catch up to the rest of the world in the automotive industry, asking Americans to buy domestic verhicles. This time, the jarring difference between the content of the advertisement and the content of the debate was more disturbing than humorous.

Corporations play a tremendous role in the political sphere, but the public fails to realize that corporations are also the puppeteers of the media. Candidates and the mainstream media alike shy away from criticizing big business, because corporate executives have arguably more power than even the president. Candidates debate money issues in vague terms while corporate sponsors smirk in the background: they know that, with the current state of the capitalism in the U.S., very few politicians would actually follow through with their promises to separate themselves from corporate influence. The advertisements during the debates online were in such stark contrast to Obama's rhetoric that they made me doubt the veracity or feasability of any politicians' anti-corporate platform. Both political candidates and the mainstream media might claim to look out for "the little guys," but in reality they know that they should be more concerned with the big business guys.

Of course, people are much more likely to notice who was wearing a flag pin on his lapel (Obama) and who was not (McCain) than they are to notice the corporate influence in the presidential campaign.