US Presidential Election : Falling Standards

The contentious Democratic Convention at Nevada, marked by the Hillary Clinton email controversy and use of vile language for Opposition reflects the declining standards of American politics

Dilip Chaware in US
Those so-called self-proclaimed intellectuals in Bharat need to watch how US leaders lambast each other in vile language now that the election fever is at its pitch. Compared with them, many of our foul-mouthed satraps appear gentlemen. Of course, nobody in the US is pleased with this fall in standard of public debate but it has been accepted as a fait accompli.

Still, there are many political observers in the US who have pointed out that even the lowest standards of American politics are showing alarming decay in the 2016 Presidential campaign, a demonstration of the shocking decline in the intellectual and moral levels of the elite. This applies to both, the Democrats and the Republicans. Of course, there is a difference but it is only of words, not much of standards.

Of course, Donald Trump leads the pack. He called his Republican rival Marco Rubio as “sweating like a dog”. For Rand Paul, he said, “I never attacked him on his looks and believe me, there’s plenty of subject matter right there.” About Governor Pataki, he had this to say, “I heard Pataki, who, by the way, was a failed Governor in New York, a very seriously failed — he wouldn’t be elected dogcatcher right now.”
But the Democrats are no less, especially in their internecine fights. When Hillary Clinton and her chief rival Bernie Sanders kept on attacking each other in a television debate, CNN anchor Wolf Blitzer was compelled to admonish them, “If both of you’re screaming at each other, the viewers can’t hear either of you.”
“I do question her judgment,” said Sanders, who did not withdraw his remark that Hillary is unfit to be
“President.”
Clinton countered, “Make no mistake about it but this is an attack on President Obama.” She was rebutting Sanders’ charge that she’s been bought by the millionaires supporting her.
 “You didn’t answer the question,” Sanders later alleged in the debate.
“I did,” Clinton interjected. “No, you didn’t.” “I did.”
 Now Hillary Clinton and her Vice President mate Tim Kaine have declared that they will not like to talk in the language used by Donald Trump. However, till recently, Hillary did not lose a single opportunity to denigrate Trump, taking care that she did not use unparliamentarily language. But she did condemn him in strong terms.
Trump had called Clinton “volcanic” and suggested that she is the “most corrupt person” to ever run for President. He attacked her record as Secretary of State, her use of a private email server and for making millions of dollars by delivering speeches to Wall Street bankers and other wealthy groups. “Hillary is a liar” and  “Crooked Hillary” had been Trump’s favourite usages. They reverberated in the Republican National Convention that concluded last week at Cleveland.
One incident illustrates how the Republican contenders for nomination had fought in public a couple of months ago with each other. Their joint
appearance in a television discussion was described by the channel concerned as a ‘debate’ but there was no actual debate. Instead, they indulged in a vulgar display of emotions. The three claimants for the nomination — Donald Trump, Senator Marco Rubio of Florida and Senator Ted Cruz of Texas— freely flung insinuations and insults at one another.
Rubio was to fire the first salvo as he launched a blistering attack on Trump’s business activities. Rubio said Trump hired illegal immigrants though now he talks against the immigrants. Interestingly, neither criticized Trump’s proposal to ban Muslims from entering the US. Trump responded in the same coin and paid by insult for insult.
The media, too, joined the slugfest. It predicted that Rubio’s performance marked a political comeback. This has proved completely wrong since Rubio is not in the race. But the viewers had a glimpse of the shape of the things to come. In the debate, Rubio accused Trump of being a “con artist” and Trump called Rubio a “nervous Nellie,” a “lightweight” and a “choker.” Trump, Rubio and Cruz have such backgrounds that highlight decline in the overall calibre of the people now occupying centrestage.
By and large, it can be said that the process has impacted the Democrats less than the Republican Party. Over the past 40 years, it has been dominated by the elements whose utterances are quite shocking.