Descend into the Maelstrom

Sarah Palin’s selection by McCain to be his running mate says volumes about McCain and his leadership style.  It was the biggest decision of his presidential campaign, and he clearly decided to go for broke with a high-risk, high-reward bet.  It’s no coincidence that McCain has a gambling problem in his personal life.  The decision was reckless and cynical in numerous ways, and immediately makes apparent that John McCain is completely unfit to lead the nation.  It’s not exaggeration to say that McCain has placed the country that he loves so much in grave peril.  The Sarah Palin pick is strictly aimed at helping him win an election rather than help him govern.  Do you honestly think that a President McCain would ever call up Palin on the phone if Russia invades Ukraine? “Um, Sarah…this terrible thing happened…what’s your advice on how we should proceed…uh, no, we can’t challenge Russia to a hockey puck shoot-out to settle this one…“  She is unprepared to govern, and yet she might be called upon to do so if anything were to happen to McCain.

I’ve seen Palin speak three times: at the announcement of her selection on the day after the DNC; her nasty and untruthful speech at the RNC; and her sloppy first interview as running mate with Charlie Gibson of ABC News.  In all three cases I was impressed by her poise, her speaking skills, and her aw-shucks all-American demeanor.  I was equally flabbergasted by her ability to lie with a straight face, her complete ignorance of important issues, and her willingness to make vicious and false attacks against Obama and his record.

Palin has Zero (0) foreign policy credentials.  She did not know what the Bush Doctrine was.  She thinks that being in charge of an oil-producing state counts as national security experience.  She believes that the fact that you can see Russia across the Bering Strait from a remote Alaskan island qualifies her to understand the complexities of diplomacy with our newly belligerent ex-nemesis.  Bumbling McCain spokesman Tucker Bounds brought up her foreign policy resume of…being the head of the Alaska National Guard.   And true to her NRA ties, she believes it is OK for the United States to shoot first, and ask questions later if we think another nation may pose a threat to us.

None of this should come as a surprise from a woman who does not believe that global warming is caused by humans, does not believe in evolution, had no interest in traveling anywhere until politics forced her to, believes schools should only teach sexual abstinence but not the benefits of safe sex or contraception, that the Iraq War is a task from God, and who tried to have books banned from the library, and supports an Alaskan group that honestly thinks it has a chance of seceding from the Union.  Obviously, education and knowledge are not very high on Sarah Palin’s priority list.  How ironic that McCain’s hopes of winning now partly hinge on his advisers’ ability to help Palin cram for the final exam: 50 more days of campaigning till election day, including a debate with Joe Biden.  So far they have failed in their tutorial abilities, as Palin flunked through the pre-test by Gibson, largely attempting to evade all of the important questions.

Palin’s calls for reforming Washington are as laughable as her perfection of the art of saying absolutely nothing at all.  Case in point: her answer to Charlie’s question of what exactly she would change from Bush’s tenure while in Washington: “putting government on the side of the people”- which also happened to be her foreign policy plan.  Taking on the old boys in a state with a population of less than 700,000, while accepting millions of dollars of pork does not qualify anybody for the # 2 job on the planet on a reform ticket.  One has to understand the previous President’s major foreign policy doctrine before it can be reformed.  However, Sarah Palin herself does not bother me so much.  She may be a proud redneck who likes to shoot 40 moose at a time while perched high up on a helicopter for kicks, a cowardly pretense of “sport” where your opponent can’t even see you- quite a fair fight indeed, and quite telling about her personality and how she would fight in a political campaign.  But she is very much a part of the American fabric, the type of person that at times breaks through in the lower levels of local or state politics, but would never have the opportunity to cause danger on a national or international stage as the majority of voters realize what a radical this person is.  This has been largely neutralized thanks to tokenism: the fact that the unqualified party is a woman automatically gives her an edge with women voters, just as we must recognize that no male with Palin’s anemic resume would be offered the job.  I hope hockey moms across America get this.  My mom was a hockey mom too who bought this right defenseman the skates and helmet and pads that led to a city league championship, and she gets it.

Much more worrisome than anything else in the Sarah Palin circus is what the selection says about McCain’s decision-making.  He did not perform the most basic due diligence before making such a momentous decision.  She was clearly not vetted very well, so his campaign was caught  like moose in the headlights as many details of Palin’s personal and public life became public thanks to the media.  There is no need to go into all the troublesome details of Palin’s short career, as they have been widely publicized.  It will suffice to say that it was a rash decision and at 72, McCain will not change his style toward actual deliberation on important issues as opposed to trusting yet another wild whim on his craps-table view of the universe.

If Sarah Palin’s itchy trigger finger is ever placed on the nuclear button bestowed upon her by God one day, do not be surprised to see a world that has indeed changed- for the worse.  America deserves whoever it votes for in November.

I didn’t think it was possible, but the political events of the last week have made the most exciting presidential race in a generation even more interesting.  First, the Democrats gathered in Denver for the four-day pep rally otherwise known as the Democratic National Convention.  A gloom hung over the convention, as the rift between the Obamas and Clintons was overblown by a media that could not find much that was substantive to say about the pageant.  It is a sad indictment of the corporate-controlled field of journalism today that over 500 reporters would fixate on a fictional pschyo-drama between the warring factions of the family.  Fortunately, both Hillary and Bill Clinton came out like good party soldiers with stirring and graceful speeches in support of Obama to at least neutralize the psycho-babble.  On the final night, Obama held court with yet another eloquent speech that he used to knock the convention out of the park at Invesco Field. 

But McCain had his own pair of nuts to flex, which he did forthwith.  He announced by next morning that his running mate would be a voluptuous young lightweight named Sarah Palin, a move which shocked all observers.  Her presence on the ticket can be sure to cause (below the) Beltway loin-stirring amongst many Republicans with her red-blooded cultural conservatism, and she may even poach a few disgruntled Hillary women.  However it is puzzling why McCain would pick this 44-year old beauty queen, Governor of Alaska and until just recently Mayor of a tiny Alaskan town nobody has heard of or even been to, over numerous other qualified candidates.  On his 72nd birthday, no less, a cruel reminder to the nation that this chick could be only inches away from the presidency- and handling the nuclear football.  Let’s be clear: Sarah Palin is not qualified to be the president.   Although Obama may also be a lightweight in Washington, what he brings would make Palin seem like a featherweight.

So while Obama doubled down on experience by choosing a grizzled white male Washington elder in Biden for his youthful ticket, McCain did the exact opposite by going for the virile and sultry Mrs. Palin, 28 years his junior.  She looks a lot more like Britney or Paris than Obama does.  Meanwhile, Barack is no longer the only guy with a funny name on the scene; no joke, the offspring of Sarah Palin are named Willow, Track, Trig, Piper, and Bristol.   Here is a quick analysis of how her being tapped for VP will affect the race. 

She’s a blank slate. In a sign of the division of our times, both left and right are projecting their own prejudices on Mrs. Palin, drawing on her nearly blank slate to suit their own preconceived points of view.  The bizarre result is that both sides are showing great happiness that she was chosen.  The right wing believes she will ensure victory by energizing the base with her pro-life stance, and her eagerness to drill for oil in places like ANWR in Alaska.  The left is eager to jump on her thin record of working on issues of national import and thinks this will sway voters toward Obama.

McCain’s experience card is neutralized. No longer can the McCain camp call Obama a vapid celebrity, or too inexperienced to be in charge of the U.S. executive branch.  Sarah is only a few years out of running a town of less than 10,000 people.  She is three years younger than Obama.  And Obama picked Biden, who most of the country would be comfortable with as president. 

Will she bring women’s votes?  The question of the day is how many women will be encouraged to vote for McCain now that his sidekick is female.  This will partly hinge on whether they discover her red-meat views against abortion.  And whether or not Hillary can convince her admirers to vote for Obama. 

Will average Americans connect with her? Part of Obama’s problem has always been his exotic background.  Half-black, raised partly in Indonesia and Hawaii, a mysterious Kenyan father with a Muslim name, etc.  Now here comes Sarah Palin, an outdoorsy ice fishing queen from Alaska, with an accent straight out of the movie Fargo, sons named Track and Trig, and who looks way better than a mother of five ought to be able to.

Her promise of change. The Republicans are trying to contrast Obama’s call for change with one of their own.  Palin represents a massive generational shift in the party- in theory if they won, she could be the party’s leader and even presidential nominee in the next 4-8 years.   She also bucked the corrupt old-boy Republican network in Alaska, and is therefore seen as an internal party crusader.  Meanwhile, McCain attempts to look like a maverick again after complaints of bending his positions to the right.  And a stud. 

McCain’s age.  Critically, McCain is 72, was tortured for some years, and has survived multiple bouts of skin cancer.  Voters will need to question not only if they are comfortable with a Vice President Palin, but a President Palin.

How the Obamans respond. Early on, Obama surrogates have criticized her lack of experience.  But that’s the knock on him, too.  How they separate the two will be critical to the race.

Biden vs. Palin. Will Biden run circles around the younger Palin?  I cannot fathom otherwise unless another brain aneurysm emerges in Biden’s head mid-debate, but if the debate and extended back and forth between them isn’t a knockout, that doesn’t bode well for Team Obama.