With the presidential election coming up in November, it’s occurred to me that even if I was 18 by voting day, I’d still have no idea who to vote for because of my complete lack of knowledge about both Mitt Romney and Barack Obama. And no, it’s not because I don’t turn on CNN when I come home and diligently take notes on Romney’s plans for my retirement or Obama’s new tax policy. It’s simply hard to distinguish the truth from the millions of “news” stories I’ve heard up to now and will hear by the time voting day comes.
I find it absurd and even a little concerning that major media stations like FOX and MSNBC decide to focus on the petty and somewhat insignificant details of presidential candidates. Yes they do talk about the major issues that presidents want to cover, but that should be the only topics these news outlets cover. I really don’t care what Obama did in high school or what

Romney does in his free time, I care about they’re going to do if elected.
A story that I have heard over and over again is that Romney bullied a boy for being gay in college, and by bullied I mean pinned him to the ground and cut his hair into a more “straight” style. Although that story is sadly true and makes me question why Romney is running for president instead of working at Hot Cuts, the rumor that the boy ended up committing suicide is false. In fact he’s just a normal guy now, working his normal guy job as a principal. Personally, I do find it upsetting that Romney found it morally acceptable to do such a thing, but honestly what does this have to do with his plans for America if he is elected? It’s not like we’re all going to have to cut our hair…hopefully.

As for Obama, who is balancing his current presidency with his campaign, I could probably write a book about the rumors I’ve heard. He was born in Kenya, he’s a Muslim, he makes up natural disasters, he’s secretly gay and has a crush on Romney.
Honestly, even if those were all facts, that still has nothing to do with his plans to fix the economy or to better the lives of Americans. I’m much more interested in his plans for our nation than whether or not he was born in Kenya. I’ve met some pretty nice people from Kenya.

As for his sexual orientation, that’s something he’d have to take up with Michelle. Don’t flatter yourself Romney, the president doesn’t have a secret shrine of you in his closet.
It’s these rumors that make it hard to get down to the core of what each presidential candidate wants to do if elected. Sure I can tell you that Obama wants to legalize gay marriage and Romney wants to ban birth control, but other than that everything else I know seems simply a rumor. Why and how people even manage to bring up stuff that someone did in high school and college is beyond me. I don’t think something that happened 30 years ago is relevant to the person he is today. Unless they were a gang leader in charge of massive drug cartels. In which case, remind me not to run for president in 30 years.

People obviously change and mature throughout their life. Think about it, you can be stranded on a desert island for a month and I’m pretty sure that you’ll come home a different person. Romney and Obama are not the same people they were in college. People change along with their views and opinions.

The stories thrown around about candidates makes me question if it’s even worth being president if you have to undergo all this scrutiny and constantly be in the public eye. Yeah, it’s pretty cool to have your own airplane and to live in the White House and all, but having to make major decisions only to be judged by an entire country? Not cool. These are the people who want to become the future leaders of our nation, and as citizens, it hurts us to focus on something that Romney or Obama did in high school.

The president isn’t a celebrity to gossip about. What’s important is what they want to do in office, not what they did outside of office.