Sag in Economy Could Reshape '12 Campaigns

As the presidential race has narrowed to President Obama versus Mitt Romney (and of course a slew of independent parties with names of people no one has heard of), the issues that are driving the race have begun to surface. A little while ago it was the birth control debate, sparked by comments from radio host Rush Limbaugh, which seemed to help Obama win favor of voters—especially female voters. The most recent issue is the economy. When I got the New York Times, the front page had an article on this exact subject. (The article can be found in its online version here.)

The issue is presented by the paper as this "The race may be a referendum on Mr. Obama, as Republicans want, or, as Democrats prefer, a choice between a president nursing the economy back to health and a challenger who represents the failed politics that caused the crisis in the first place". What struck me as very interesting in this sentence was how much of a construction this race is; it points out the two different ways the problem is framed by saying "as Republicans want" and "as Democrats prefer". There are always two sides to an issue, and voters must see be critical when deciding which candidate they trust more, because each side has a bias and has constructed the debate in a different way.

With all of the current emphasis on this side of the debate, I am beginning to think about what this says about us as Americans that we have decided that the economy should be among the most important topics to consider when voting. In my opinion, the recent focus on the economy as a driving force in the campaign highlights how materialistic Americans are. America has remained the number one buyer in the world, and our obsession with having things and having the money to buy things has been magnified by the race. We built the United States on a platform of democracy and freedom, but I think we have in some ways lost sight of these ideals and turned to material as a way to define our success as a country.

One study asked people what Americans' biggest problems are (an indicator of the issues people will be voting on). 

Do you think that the economy should be a driving force in the campaigns? What do you think should be one of the most important issues in the campaign?