This election should have been over months and months ago. It has endured for so long now that one can't help wondering whether the two senators have even done anything remotely resembling their jobs in years (exception: McCain's attempt to postpone the first debate to work on the bailout package, which was mocked by many as an diversionary tactic and not an actual effort to improve our country). How could either of them possibly have done anything productive in the Senate when all their time has been devoted to promoting unabashedly dishonest ads, seeking out the dirt on the other candidate's wife, and just generally acting like fools? Today, what is regarded as one of the most important elections of our age is rapidly turning into a complete farce.

The absurdities begin with the candidates' approach to the economic crisis. Both McCain and Obama claim to have ideas that will make our economy roll again. With the greatest confidence, McCain tells us: "I have a plan." With equal confidence, Obama continues to assert that his opponent's ideas are just "eight more years of the same" and reminds us how badly that has gone so far. Listening to either of them speak about the subject makes me want to grab them by the shoulders and shake them. If anybody actually knew a way that would, indeed, solve our economic crisis, there wouldn't be a "crisis": there would be a temporary problem with an easy solution. Nobody wants to admit that the economy is still a mysterious force to mankind; if we understood it, it wouldn't have taken us a world war to rescue us from our last depression. I can understand why presidential candidates aren't eager to admit that they aren't supermen who can solve our crisis with a snap of the fingers. But their determination to prove competence seems to have come at the expense of the actual truth--that fixing the economy is, to some extent, going to be a trial-and-error process, and hardly a painless one at that.

Speaking of a demolition of the truth, the propaganda machine has ensured that anything remotely resembling the truth won't stand a chance this year, even if the candidates were forthcoming about our economic situation. Negative advertising has always been a part of presidential campaigns, but this year's is particularly brutal. One standout is Obama's Spanish-language ad comparing McCain's immigration policies to Rush Limbaugh's. In reality, Limbaugh and McCain are hardly ideological allies or pals, and Limbaugh lambasted McCain for his immigration plan two years ago. McCain's ad, which proposed that Obama promoted full sexual education for kindergartners, was equally embarrassing. At the rates they're going, would anyone be surprised to see thirty-second shots ending with lines such as "Barack Obama: Hates America" or "John McCain: Wishes the poor would just get the hell out of our country"? Negative ads can be useful, but only if they're truthful and relevant, providing negative information about candidates that will actually help voters learn more about them and make an educated decision. The ads in this campaign have met neither of those qualifications and are therefore only muddying up the political discourse.

The most farcical element of this election, however, is almost certainly the nomination of Gov. Sarah Palin for Vice President. I had heard of her before she was nominated and was intrigued by her relative youth, her large family, and especially her popularity as governor (she was the most popular governor in the entire country, as of last summer). But her being an expert on some of the local Alaskan issues, particularly energy, does not mean that she is anywhere near qualified to be Vice President. If the sole job of the Vice President was to advise the President on their issues of expertise and help the ticket "consolidate the conservative base," it wouldn't be a huge deal. But we have to face the possibilities. McCain is seventy-two years old, has a history of cancer, and has suffered from five years of torture, which must have taken a toll on his body. He seems to be in fairly decent health, and the fact that his ninety-six year old mother is still cogent and well is an encouraging sign. Who knows? The man might outlive us all. Still, it's irresponsible for any presidential candidate to choose an unprepared, inexperienced candidate for vice president, especially if that candidate would be the oldest President in American history.

I'm a junior now, and there has never been a moment during my Dartmouth career when this election was not being discussed. The mere fact that a year ago during the Democratic primary, Biden seemed more likely to support McCain than Obama is an indicator that this election has gone on way too long and has gotten completely out of hand. We have before us two of the most remarkable Presidential candidates in the last hundred years--the first ever black Presidential nominee of a major party a self-made man who skyrocketed to the top of the political spectrum and a courageous war hero who has defied his party on many occasions and fought for what he believed in despite the repercussions. Yet, they have both managed to demean themselves for the sake of victory, almost beyond redemption. This frustrating charade of an election can't be over soon enough.

Let's just hope we don't start talking about 2012 in January.