It'll be an interesting year for columnists — and readers

2012 will be a challenging year for any columnist who takes his or her job seriously. It will be a year to analyze the news, watch the undercurrents as they develop and, most of all, use our years of experience to help readers better understand what’s happening in the world around us. That’s what makes writing a column so much fun.

The presidential election will provide a great deal of material for columns. An honest columnist must avoid the temptation to just parrot partisan slogans and be a shill for a political party. Picking a president is serious business, and the voters’ choice come November will have a direct impact on the life of New York state residents as well as the rest of the country.

Regardless of whether you’re a diehard Democrat or Republican, an opinion column gives you a chance to cheer for good ideas and criticize the flaws of your party’s candidate. The past three years haven’t been easy for the average citizen. The wars that we’ve waged in Iraq and Afghanistan have drained billions of dollars from our economy and prevented the country from getting out of the lingering recession.

Whether you live in Levittown or Lackawanna, the story is the same. Our young people are graduating from college with a heavy debt load and very few jobs open to them. Many are making the hard choice of how far to go from home to start a career. If they want to stay in their local community, they face the dilemma of being unable to find affordable housing. Living with Mom and Dad when you’re in your 20s isn’t what you looked forward to when you started college.

The mortgage mess hasn’t spared any community. The rate of foreclosures in Islip is almost identical to the number in Syracuse. Too many people wanted the American dream of owning a home and wound up with the nightmare of losing the roof over their heads. Whoever is the Democrat or Republican candidate should have some serious answers to the problems that plague our country. Any fair-minded columnist should be ready to challenge both candidates and explain to readers why they’re right or wrong.