Political Gaming

I played Presidential Pong today. I found it on CNN's election center and putzed around with it for a while until I realize how much of my life I'd sacrificed for it. (45 minutes. Don't judge me.)

It was embarrassing; the game wasn't remotely fun. You pick your candidate, your opponent and you bat a ball around on a screen. (I liked playing as Bill Richardson cause his cartoon-self looks like a middle-aged Charlie Brown, poor dear.)

The best part of the game are the "power ups." Each player only gets three and they differ from candidate to candidate. Hilary breaks out the Clinton family whenever she starts sweating, McCain dons a helmet and power ups on his war veteran days and whenever Obama hits the ball--his tongue stick out when this happens-- he likes to power up on Lincoln's Statehouse. (Nothing sticks to the guy!) If you don't believe me, click here.

As silly as this all seems, however, these oversimplification of how presidential candidates are pigeonholed is not far from the truth. In today's world of celebrity obsession and the National Enquirer, a single rumor (like an expensive haircut) or a single issue (Mitt Romney and his gay crusade) can make or break a candidate.

If a haircut can tarnish a man's image, one would think that something like the Petraeus-Crocker Report, essentially a report card on the Iraq War, would put forth unbelievable political tremors among our current administration.

Think again.

In a Washington Post-ABC news poll, showed a sweeping skepticism among American voters when it came to whether Petraeus' testimony would have any effect on the current Iraq policy. "Only about four in 10 said they expect the general to give an accurate accounting of the situation in Iraq. A majority, 53 percent, said they think his report will try to make the situation in Iraq look better than it really is," stated the Washington-Post in an op-ed piece.

With the Bush administration facing plummeting approval ratings and only about a third of the United States believing in the party line on Iraq, the spotlight is again on the candidates to provide one thing above all: change.

Because in the end, war is not a game.