Midwest Memo
Good listeners
by Alan Shultz

Good listeners can be a hard bunch to find. That's especially true at election time.

Let's say a candidate utters something candid and revealing about his or her own personal view of the U.S. or our citizenry. That candid moment can represent real value to the voter, if the voter is listening.

A candid moment can be the time when the voter either puts a star next to the candidate's name, or scratches that name off the list.

If you follow the reporting of the Clinton-Obama race for the Democratic nomination for president it seems to me that folks are looking to identify with a candidate, rather than learn about them.

Rather than listening, many voters seem to want to find the candidate that mirrors them, the candidate that "gets" them.

After hearing Michelle Obama speak in York, Pa., resident Ann Collier summed up her reaction to Mrs. Obama's speech this way: "she just has a better understanding of where I come from."

Ms. Collier is not alone in her criteria for picking the leader of the free world.

"I want someone who gets me!!"- they chant.

My criteria for who wins the keys to the residence at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue doesn't involve my personal situation. For surely, I don't give a hoot if the next President "gets" me. I certainly don't want a President who feels my pain or has the time or interest to learn "where I come from." The job description is a tad more complex.

Note to Ms. Collier's support group: in case you haven't heard, there's a bit of trouble in the Middle East and our economy seems to be in a squeeze. It's not all about you.

The 1979 movie "Being There" stars Peter Sellers as an innocent, albeit dim fellow, who gains influence in D.C. politics simply by - being there. An Internet site devoted to the movie calls it the "greatest movie you've never seen - a double edged satire about politics."

In "Being There" the main character is a blank slate who shares little but mirrors back much to the folks with whom he interacts. Those same folks all find him fascinating and wise because of his unusual mirror effect.

Even though the word candid can be found in the word candidate, you rarely get that situation in real life. In seems voters want to hear precisely what they want to hear and the candidates are all too happy to deliver. It's called pandering and it seems to work.

Honey, what was that?

The earthquake last week rattled our house out in Adams Township. The windows shuttered and plates on the wall vibrated and the racket woke up both my wife and me. Debbie sat up and said "that was an

earthquake."

I rolled over and declared that it was cats fighting on the screened-in porch below our bedroom.

Turns out - she was right.

I faired better on my diagnosis of the earthquake than a chap in Brookston who we know. When his wife told him there had been an earthquake, his reply set him up for a night on the couch.

"Oh, I just thought it was you getting out of bed," he said.

Across the state line...

I am an enthusiastic cheerleader for the work of the Purdue Extension Office here in Carroll County and for the system across the state. The Extension network serves as a resource and moving force behind programming, teaching, outreach and volunteers in countless communities large and small.

Across the state line into Illinois the Extension system there has become the unlikely victim of state government that won't honor its own commitments. Illinois is withholding operating funds due their Extension system due to fiscal ineptitude and a Governor and Legislature that don't get along.

I wonder about those Illinois officials who don't deliver on their promises. Do they "get" their constituents?