photo credit: Barack Obama
The 2008 Presidential election was never going to be simple. For a time, it seemed that the tide was moving in one specific direction; today, it is turning into a hotly-contested political contest fueled by innuendo and distortions the likes of which the American people have not seen in many years.
On the left, Barack Obama, the presumptive favorite of the American people (based on their feeling about the issues affecting them) has been solid and steady about his promise to bring change and reform to Washington since proclaiming his run for the presidency in February of 2007. There is Senator Joe Biden, one of the lowest-level income earners in both public service and Congress, whose very direct grassroots style and deep connection to the common people of America have earned him immense respect and the Democratic vice-presidential nod.
On the right, the self-proclaimed “mavericks” whose messages represent the policies which we have lived with for the past eight years. The right’s two personalities, John McCain and his running mate Governor Sarah Palin, have proven effective in their quest to transform the campaign messages of the left and make them their own, repackaging the notions of “change” and “progress” by distancing themselves from the current White House and introducing Sarah Palin, a virtual ringer, into the contest for the White House. The process has been effective: the Republicans were able to stop the bleeding using Palin’s limitless charm as a security blanket for a race which seemed lost to them just weeks ago.
Obama has, for his part, handled matters with kid gloves up to this point. It’s not because of his unwillingness to fight but out of a genuine fear of being caught in the “catch-22″ of being mislabeled by undecided voters in the short run to election day. Obama has run a positive campaign and one which has been based on the issues. He has proven himself a remarkable public speaker, a man whose genuine concern for the welfare of our country comes across as honest rather than pious. He is a man of great intelligence and forethought, one who speaks with a no-nonsense ease about what he believes in and never shies away from answering tough questions.
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photo credit: Eric Paul Owens
Look: I’m not a politician. I’m just an American looking at the world through a dirty set of glasses, muddied by 8 years of waste. I’m scared that the Republican party is going to pull the same dirty trick they pulled in the 2000 election, a time when the Republicans capitalized on Al Gore’s intellect going over people’s heads, thereby alluring them to the clearly-failed policies that George Bush, Jr. would come to unleash on the American people.
In 2008, the Republicans are turning to a pinch hitter to allure people into believing that the failed policies of the Bush administration are worth hanging on to for another four years. We’ve gotten exactly what was promised, a pitbull with lipstick, one who is tough and resourceful and, to a large degree, extremely frightening.
As much as I dislike what she stands for and who she is, Sarah Palin is an ideal weapon for the Republican party to use as a boost to the unsexy, often unpalatable personality of their Presidential candidate, John McCain. She represents a smokescreen for the policies and ideals that the party stands for. She lacks a real and clear understanding of what she would be inheriting should she become President, evidenced by her first televised interview on ABC News tonight.
When I listen to her talk, I do not hear conversation about issues. I hear a confident, sexy, organized, tough opponent in her voice. I hear the desire to improve. I hear the wish to be capable of seeing through the past eight years of monstrous excess, failure, loss of life and economic turmoil. But it’s clear to me, in spite of my respect for her dynamic personality and her go-get-em attitude: she’s wrong for America in so many ways, I’d have to take off your shoes and mine to help me count them all.
The question of “The Bush Doctrine” came up in the interview and Sarah Palin was clearly unprepared to clearly state her position. She demonstrated something very important to recognize in that interview, something very telling: Sarah Palin is exceptionally smart, but more importantly, she knows how to “work it” when she gets stuck. Sarah Palin’s greatest asset, from the perspective of a viewer who (like you) was unfamiliar with her three weeks ago, is her ability to be resourceful in using her charm to manipulate a conversation to her advantage when the answers to questions are not handy. My father used to mention an old saying to me to describe situations like this — “If you can’t beat them with brilliance, baffle them with bullshit.”
Does this sound like anyone in our current White House?
