Campaign Should Focus On The Issues For Issues Character Reduces Voting To A Litmus Test.

Like it or not, this is an election year. In less than six months, we’ll pick a president. And the entire House of Representatives. And a third of the Senate. And thousands of state and local officials.

That, say the civics textbooks, is the way a self-governing people decide how they will direct their public affairs.

But making informed choices about the best candidates to carry out the collective will takes more time and effort than most Americans are willing to spend coming to grips with complex issues.

It’s so much easier to talk about “character.”

Character, unfortunately, is the calling card mudslinging uses when it sheds its grubbies and dons a tuxedo.

Integrity is a legitimate issue, certainly. It speaks to a candidate’s reliability to keep promises. But to emphasize character over other issues is to focus on image over substance.

Character counts, but it doesn’t patch potholes.

Character doesn’t achieve welfare reform or balance the budget. It doesn’t create better schools or safer neighborhoods. It won’t ensure adequate day-care facilities for working parents.

Character, too often, is a cop-out. It reduces voting to a simplistic, self-righteous and frequently irrelevent litmus test.

You say Bob Dole’s first marriage failed? You say Bill Clinton failed in his marriage? And he smoked pot in the ‘60s, too?

Scratch them off your list. And when the moral cleansing of American politics is complete, if anyone is left who’s willing to put self and family through the ordeal of unrelenting public examination and judgment, what are the chances it’ll be someone with the ability to solve problems?

Author Suzanne Garment argues convincingly in her book “Scandal” that the U.S. savings and loan debacle reached crisis proportions because the public, press and political structure were chasing personal scandals rather than attending to business.

Abraham Lincoln had it right when he reasoned that Gen. U.S. Grant’s military ability was too important to the nation’s future to get excited about his drinking.

Likewise, American voters in 1996 have a duty, for the nation’s sake, to keep the character question in perspective and to examine the candidates primarily about issues.

, DataTimes MEMO: For opposing view, see headline: Character says more about a leader

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