| Checking the facts behind the presidental race |
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2008-01-09, 14:34:59 I've been feeling guilty about not doing enough to learn about presidental candidates' actual policies, ideas, and voting records. So I've been reading several websites that check up on claims the candidates are making to see whether their attacks really hit the mark, and whether they're representing their own records accurately. While this fact checking doesn't capture everything—I think it's important to have a president who's inspirational and has good judgment, not just good promises for policies—it's given me a lot more insight into the candidates than the relatively empty articles and newscasts you typically see. Here's my short list of sites providing this service:
I'm hoping that reading these will help resolve a dilemma for me. Obama inspires me, but I wonder if he has enough substance. Many people think not, because he talks more about hope and change than about specific policies. But I suspect that's not because he's empty, but because he's taking a different tack. "The Fact Checker," a Washington Post blog, has an interesting post about "poetry" candidates vs "prose" candidates. They put Obama firmly in the poetry camp, and Clinton and Romney in the prose camp. |