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Sarah Plain and Perilous
I really wanted to avoid making a full-length post about Sarah Palin. Really, I did. For the past few weeks I've contemplated whether or not to devote my energy to the topic - my colleague Kenneth can attest to that. However, with the convenient outlet that this new blog provides, I can no longer refrain from adding my own diatribe to the ever-growing list of anti-Palin polemics. I understand that some may read this and label me elitist. Fine. I'm so over that equivocal branding at this point. As I explained in my previous posting, Failure Abounds,"I am not typically a demanding person; however, I do demand that anyone who seeks to run this country be a remarkable individual." The reality is that Sen. McCain is 72 years old and has had multiple battles with a particularly vicious form of cancer. Such acknowledgement is not "playing the age card," but rather the simple statement of a relevant fact. If the Republican ticket is elected, Gov. Palin will be closer than a heartbeat away from the presidency. This verity should be sufficient reason for any remaining undecided voters to cast their lot with the Obama/Biden ticket. As many columnists and observers representing a vast expanse of the political spectrum have noted, Palin is well out of her league.
Evasive Debating
Following Thursday's Vice Presidential debate, a number of pundits stated that the mere fact that Palin was still standing was sufficient for the McCain campaign to deem the event a draw. No matter that she was so blatantly operating off a pre-determined script. Or that whenever the subject matter veered ever so slightly away from comfortable territory, Gov. Palin flagrantly avoided the question at hand and navigated back to energy, the only issue to which she has displayed some semblance of rudimentary knowledge.
As Vice President, Palin will not have the luxury of selecting which questions she will answer and which challenges she will confront while eluding others. I do credit Palin for at least being forthright about her evening of evasiveness, "I may not answer the questions that either the moderator or you want to hear" (Gov. Palin addressing Sen. Biden at the beginning of the debate). Though not all unexpected, Palin's brazen evasiveness at the debate is representative of the campaign's wider strategy regarding their Vice Presidential candidate.
As Sam Harris explained in a recent piece for Newsweek, the McCain campaign is actively promoting nonsensical propaganda, placing the blame of Palin's stumbles on a biased press and "upon the ‘liberal elites' with their highfalutin assumption that, in the 21st century, only a reasonably well-educated person given control of our nuclear arsenal." We should expect that the campaign will continue to spin developments in such an absurd manner; however, the reality is that the embarrassments that befell Palin in her recent interviews were not due to a tenacious "liberal media," but rather her own ineptitude.
The Russia Thing Not long after McCain announced his choice of Palin as his running-mate, Steve Doocy of Fox News made a preposterous comment that confounded even his fellow Fox-hounds. He posited that as Governor of Alaska, Sarah Palin had gained foreign policy experience due to that state's proximity to Russia. The comment provided a good afternoon chuckle throughout the office and no doubt garnered countless replays via YouTube, but I was sure that was the last day I would hear such nonsense. Unfortunately, I was wrong. Sarah Palin soon began attempting to portray this absurdity as a legitimate claim of foreign policy experience and I lamented the retreat of any remaining semblance of reason from the McCain campaign. I suppose that withdrawal of logic should quell my disbelief that a campaign would have ever allowed such an imbecilic argument to be employed. GIBSON: What insight into Russian actions, particularly in the last couple of weeks, does the proximity of the state give you? PALIN: They're our next-door neighbors and you can actually see Russia from land here in Alaska, from an island in Alaska. (The recently revealed fact that Gov. Palin herself has in fact never seen Russia from Alaska is an interesting, albeit at this point negligible side note.)
Embracing Mediocrity I realize that I am now resuming the central theme of my previous post: that a John McCain Administration would carry on the dangerous policy of denigrating intelligence and excellence - a practice that the Bush Administration has so adamantly and effectively nurtured. However, I take the risk of appearing a bit repetitious because I believe that such belittling of intellectualism to be highly consequential. And Sarah Palin has made it more than obvious that it is a policy she intends to continue.
Palin incessantly claims that she's in touch with the common person because she's just like them. She's a (hockey!) mom. She's married. She has (a herd of) children. Those are all perfectly fine attributes, and indeed they are attributes she shares with a substantial portion of the population. However, it is simply illogical to argue that this ordinary-ness somehow makes her qualified to be Vice President. I'm sorry, that simply isn't good enough. For 99.9% of the population, being average is perfectly acceptable. When it comes to the Vice President (and potential President) of the United States, average doesn't cut it. The unfortunate reality is that much of this country's population perceives "ordinary" to be a positive attribute for their leaders. This is perhaps the single most important factor in George W. Bush's two elections to the U.S. presidency, arguably the most powerful position in the world. Once again, Harris summarizes this condition well.
Half of the electorate revels in Palin's lack of intellectual qualifications. When it comes to politics, there is a mad love of mediocrity in this country. "They think they're better than you!" is the refrain that (highly competent and cynical) Republican strategists have set loose among the crowd, and the crowd has grown drunk on it once again. "Sarah Palin is an ordinary person!" Yes, all too ordinary.With a wink and a nod (and lipstick!), Sarah Palin coyly disparages intelligence and excellence. Connoting such attributes to "the elite" she sends a very dangerous message to the American populace: that there is something inherently wrong in striving to be above average. Is that really the message we want coming from a potential leader of our country?
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