A tale of three columnists

The IDS opinion page on Wednesday, Oct. 17 offered three op-ed columns by Indira Dammu, Ayesha Awan and Chase Cooper that had some notable characteristics.\nThe Dammu column provided an analysis of the Libertarian Party, certainly a relevant discussion given the popularity of Ron Paul among many college students. Dammu offered a thoughful, well-researched and well-written condemnation of libertarianism and how it could potentially affect public policy. There may be another columnist who has a different view, and as long as it is written as articulately as this column, I look forward to reading it.\nAyesha Awan probed into the lack of understanding of important cultural traits by our foreign policy and military leaders. She passionately argues that if you plan on waging a war and a multi-year occupation in a foreign, potentially hostile land, ignoring these important cultural aspects is idiotic. Perhaps a pro-war pundit could argue, in an equally passionate and well-written way, how cultural understanding is not as big a deal as Awan is making it out to be. I would love to hear that one!\nThen, there was the bile spewed out by Chase Cooper. In line after line of sophomoric drivel, he talks about the candidate’s wives, including a really cheap shot at Republican Mitt Romney. The only actual policy mentioned was Barack Obama’s opposition to the notoriously anti-labor rights behemoth Wal-Mart. He hopes that Fred Thompson’s wife Jeri becomes our next first lady because “she’s a babe.”\nWhat is disturbing is that our country features a completely broken political press that spits out the same garbage Cooper does. Countless column inches are devoted not only to meaningless issues like a candidate’s race or gender, but to their hair and cleavage. In 2000, our Fourth Estate bemoaned that Al Gore was sporting “earth tones” but appreciated that “folks wanted to sit down and have a beer” with George Bush. (How’s that working out?)\nRegrettably, the columnist that probably has the best chance at getting a journalism role in our current polluted media environment is Cooper.