Sarah Palin is on the cover of the new issue of Newsweek. Jon Meacham gives his normally measured and balanced, slightly conservative take on Palin... but in the end he DEMOLISHES HER.
I'm not one who relishes Palin continuing to gain attention of this scope when McInsane is off flailing about with a new attack, a new proposal, a new way to say "mavericky maverick" - "wait, how about 'The Great Maverick-o'" - a new way to blame America's problems on multiculturalism and 60s radicalism. His completely off the charts, erratic behavior needs to be the main focus.
But, on the other hand, since the Palin is off playing pit bull - lipstick included - bashing Obama - let the pwning begin!
Meacham's Newsweek Cover Story
He starts off somewhat complimentary, then ponders how small town outsiders have had a long history of resonance with Americans throughout history. Then he starts to hone in.
ALL EMPHASIS MINE
A key argument for Palin, in essence, is this: Washington and Wall Street are serving their own interests rather than those of the broad whole of the country, and the moment requires a vice president who will, Cincinnatus-like, help a new president come to the rescue. The problem with the argument is that Cincinnatus knew things. Palin sometimes seems an odd combination of Chauncey Gardiner from "Being There" and Marge from "Fargo."
SMACK!
He takes her to task for displaying no intellectual curiosity. Surely "the folks" don't care about smarts, but I think a lot of us do care. We recognize the areas where we are not expert, where we have opinions, not answers. I want someone who is smart enough to know what he or she knows and is smart enough to ask questions - and to A) weed through the B.S. advisors feed him or her, and to B) believe others can know more and he or she can learn from these outside advisors.
Is this an elitist point of view? Perhaps, though it seems only reasonable and patriotic to hold candidates for high office to high standards. Elitism in this sense is not about educational or class credentials, not about where you went to school or whether you use "summer" as a verb. It is, rather, about the pursuit of excellence no matter where you started out in life. Jackson, Lincoln, Truman, Eisenhower, Johnson, Nixon, Ford, Carter, Reagan and Clinton were born to ordinary families, but they spent their lives doing extraordinary things, demonstrating an interest in, and a curiosity about, the world around them. This is much less evident in Palin's case.
And this stinging indictment strikes me as a shot across the McCain bow, questioning his judgment:
Would we muddle through if Palin were to become president? Yes, we would, but it is worth asking whether we should have to.
And then, the Coup de Grace...
Sitting with her for part of the Couric interview, McCain implicitly compared Palin to Bill Clinton and Ronald Reagan, saying that they, too, had been caricatured and dismissed by mainstream voices. The linkages are untenable. For all of his manifold sins, Clinton was a longtime governor, and George H.W. Bush's attacks on his qualifications failed for a reason: people may not have respected Clinton's character, but they did not doubt the quality of his mind. A successful two-term governor of California, Reagan had spent decades immersed in politics (of both the left and the right) before running for president. He did like to call himself a citizen-politician, and Lord knows he had an occasionally ambiguous relationship with facts, but he was a serious man who had spent a great deal of time thinking about the central issues of the age. To put it kindly, Palin, however promising a governor she is, has not done similar work.
I could be wrong. Perhaps Sarah Palin will somehow emerge from the hurly-burly of history as a transformative figure who was underestimated in her time by journalists who could not see, or refused to acknowledge, her virtues. But do I think I am right in saying that Palin's populist view of high office—hey, Vice President Six-Pack, what should we do about Pakistan?—is dangerous? You betcha.
That's right. Jon Meacham calls Palin "dangerous."
COVER IMAGE AND GOP COMPLAINTS ABOUT IT HERE.
You can also vote here if this cover is a "slap in the face."