(AP Photo/The Elkhart Truth/Jon Garcia)

Maybe it's been the four years since the last presidential primaries that have dulled my memory somewhat, or maybe it's a mild selective amnesia that takes the edge off highly unpleasant thoughts, but I don't remember any past presidential primaries where I've been as disgusted with the debates, the rhetoric and the degree of malice and vitriol as this one.

The media has taken great delight in turning the debates into juvenile mudslinging contests with the "respond if your name is mentioned” format designed to extend the noxious back and forth ad nauseam and in essence circumventing the important issues the voters so desperately want to know.

The point is that, at least in my opinion, America never really gets to know a candidate, it's as if we, the voting public are supposed to take the word of the pundits and talking heads who come at us from both sides of the political spectrum, more interested in personalities, anecdotes and any breath of scandal or disgrace, no matter how ancient or trivial.

America never got to know Barack Obama before electing him, not really.

Were the depths of his desire for fundamentally changing America, his disdain for what America is and his commitment to transforming it into a Socialist nation really revealed?

Were his income redistribution ambitions, his plans to federalize health care, expand government, inflate entitlements, double the national debt and reduce much of America's work force to part time status discussed at length?

Was his weak spot for dealing with Islamic terror made public before he was elected?

If a candidate speaks in a softer voice or a more conciliatory tone in even one speech, the political commentators act as if it were a policy change.

Does this signal a shift in policy and campaign strategy?

Well, just because the inflections in somebody's voice are altered, it doesn't mean they have had a softening of an attitude or a change of heart, and it's a sorry day in America when we fall for such junk.

Have we become so superficial? Has America become so susceptible to slight of hand, subterfuge and slick-tongued political snake oil salesmen? Have we lost the ability to think for ourselves, to read between the lines, to recognize red herrings and Judas goats, to glean some facts from the steady diet of crap the media pours forth?

Does political dialogue have to have an element of entertainment in it just to be palatable to the masses?

Do politicians have to be part standup comedian to hold the public's attention long enough to convince them to vote for them?

After all the debates, the interviews and the campaign ads, can any of us honestly say that we understand the foreign and domestic policies of any of the candidates in any detail? Do we understand the nuts and bolts of anybody's plans for the nation?

I don't, and I've tried to pay attention and make some sense out of the circus. But I can tell you a lot more about the personalities of the candidates than I can about what kind of president they would make.

What do you think?

Pray for our troops and the peace of Jerusalem.

God Bless America

Charlie Daniels

Charlie Daniels is a legendary American singer, song writer, guitarist, and fiddler famous for his contributions to country and southern rock music. Daniels has been active as a singer since the early 1950s. He was inducted into the Grand Ole Opry on January 24, 2008.