On July 6, 2012, Kathleen Hall Mamieson writes in the Washington Post:
In nearly every election, voters, the news media — and the candidates themselves — clamor for more honesty from politicians. “I don’t know if you know to trust what either side is saying or . . . are they just saying it to get elected?” a participant told pollster Peter Hart at a recent focus-group gathering of swing voters in Colorado.
But straightforwardness doesn’t make for the sexiest of stump speeches.
So can an honest candidate, who doesn’t distort his opponents’ records or rhetoric, win the presidency?
Yes. Now more than ever, with a public highly anxious about the economy and worn down after years of promises that things would get better, the time is ripe for a candid candidate.
To win over the public honestly in 2012, a presidential aspirant would tell us things we need to hear but don’t want to.
Ballooning debt and a sputtering economy are making people more receptive to candid talk about what might help. Contrary to the notion that the public will never support higher income taxes or changes in social programs, polls show that a majority of Americans support removing the income limit on the Social Security taxes, increasing the taxes paid by people who make more than $250,000 a year and reducing military spending.
The drumbeat of gloomy data helps clear the way for tough choices. The Congressional Budget Office has warned that there will be another recession if $8 trillion in automatic spending cuts and tax increases take effect in January.
Voters may rally behind shared sacrifice if they thought the country’s future were at stake.
When voters are anxious about the well-being of future generations, they also are more likely to tune in to longer forms of political communication — such as debates and other televised presentations — that are conducive to honestly explaining more complex topics.
The rewards for candor increase when the Sunday talk-show interviews and fact-checking journalists hold candidates accountable for their promises and their misleading messages. Some candidates have dialed back their claims as a result.
I wish I had the same faith in the American voter and political system
avoiding this discussion, per se, but they’re not offering specific plans for how they’d address the impending crisis, either.
