The Conservative coronation of Palin as their new messiah is all style and no substance. When the lipstick gloss wears out and the surprise package is opened, as it did during her ABC interview with Charlie Gibson, what is revealed is a woman detached from the global environment. She is literally clueless about the real state of world politics. Admittedly, she may be able to look out from her Alaska ivory tower on a clear day and see Russia, but that is not an acceptable credential for the post of Vice President.
Give it to the Republicans: they know how to rally behind fakery, turn it into flattery and make it acceptable. They know how to hype the impossible and make it plausible. They are well schooled and versed in the politics of personal destruction and the upliftment of virtual mindlessness to the pretension of substance. They did it with current President George Bush and they did it with former actor Ronald Reagan. To be fair Reagan, was no Palin. He had some brain cells. Now, they are determined to put Palin in charge of the world’s most powerful nation, if perchance the American people were to be hoodwinked in the 21st Century.
But the American people have witnessed how the last eight Bush years have been nothing short of reoccurring calamities, gross mismanagement, poor leadership and a profound detachment from every facet of American society. As if the good Lord was watching, intent on reminding the nation of Katrina, Hurricane Hanna hit Louisiana on the eve of the Republican Convention. It forced the nation to remember what happened three years ago. It’s an election year and the McCain campaign saw an opportunity to prove that they were different by postponing the first day’s events and going into relief mode, as if that small gesture would be able to whitewash the horrific sepulchers of New Orleans. Obama too responded to the hurricane threat by calling on his supporters to put politics aside and mobilizing them to help. It was the right thing to do.
The Palin sham being perpetrated by the media is simply a sideshow with the sole purpose of distracting the electorate from the real issues of economic hardships facing ordinary and middle income Americans. As Palin repeats with accuracy and precision the lines that are prepared for her by McCain’s handlers, thousands of Americans across the country are losing their homes to foreclosures. When Palin shows up on ABC and refuses to answer a simple question about how she and McCain will bring change to Washington, Americans are witnessing a massive increase in gas prices at the pump.
Clearly, the McCain team has decided, as the New Times has reported, that it is far better to do and say anything to win than to level truthfully with the electorate. The Palin charade was the first step in this gutter strategy. The thinking was to choose a woman who apparently has a fourth grade level understanding of world events but is physically attractive for TV appearances. With McCain’s inability to provide any measure of sustainable life to his presidential bid, he badly needed a jolt and infusion of young blood. He found it in Palin. At forty-four, the former Ms. Alaska and mother of five adorable children, is still on her game. Instantly, she sent the media into a frenzy, generating the mystical and carefully crafted distraction that the McCain team badly needed.
It appears that the Obama campaign had not bargained for this calculated misjudgment. They were hoping to have a battle over issues with a man who they think "talks straight." Alas, they discovered a ‘Straight Talk Express’ that was fueled by lies and bold-faced distortions of reality. After adopting Rovian tactics from the old Bush playbook, McCain transformed from straight talk to twisted tongue and double talk. Others have claimed that going with Palin was purely to throw red meat at his party’s base. McCain obviously knew that Palin has a 19th Century religious mindset. She is a quintessential white, conservative woman. She can easily identify with the base due to her righteous morality, her moose schmoozing, her gun toting credentials and her archaic view of childbearing. Then to add insult to injury she has a unique connection with big oil. Her "drill baby drill" viewpoint is in sync with the standard platform of the McCain campaign.
Given the lack of substance and the new McCain doctrine to win at all cost, Ms. Palin was a perfect pick. She may not know anything about Bush’s doctrine of preemption, but she knows a lot about moose hunting and the NRA loves her. She may not know anything about the value and importance of community organizers, but she can certainly pitch hate to a roaring Republican crowd. While she claims to value life, she attempts to devalue an individual’s choice to place self last in the quest to better his community. That was Obama’s choice in the transformative years of his life. Talk about good judgment!
Having lost the manufactured mantra of Obama’s ‘lack of experience,’ McCain dug deeply into the Alaska oil fields to find a running mate who is not simply inexperienced, but whose lack of knowledge as a potential VP is historic. Palin must be the first prospective VP who did not understand a fundamental policy position of the government she seeks to replace. Even more troubling is the fact that the policy is that of her own party. You have got to be too busy chasing moose and producing babies not to know that Bush believes that you must kill first those who may harbor any intent to kill US citizens. After all that is why the Iraq war has been such a major calamity. I wondered if Ms. Palin knows that there were no WMDs in Iraq? What are WMDs? Yes, Ms. Palin they are Weapons of Mass Destruction.
In politics, nothing should be taken for granted. To underestimate the opponent is detrimental and dangerous. Palin has been very useful to McCain’s resurrection and vigor. She has given the base another reason to believe that perhaps the American people may still want yet another four years of ineptitude and bad judgment. The thought is frightening, but the Republican base clearly does not have an ounce of commonsense about issues. They are dogmatic and respond rigidly to an ideology that promotes division and class warfare. They are crusaders that believe in using the big stick approach to foreign policy. The world has change drastically, but they are frozen in time. Palin represents the mindset that disavows any government role in helping ordinary and middle class citizens, but is quick to tell women what to do with their reproductive organs. Her righteous indignation begins and ends in other people’s bedrooms, but on the stump she lies at will and is very comfortable doing it.
Take another look at Palin’s ABC non-performance and consider her representing the United States in forums abroad. America can do much better. As Americans we deserve the best. On November 4, we should not settle for less. Palin may be a governor of sparsely populated Alaska, but she is certainly not ready for the challenges facing our world. Indeed, you may paint the tomb white, but inside is a decomposing corpse.