Palin practicing for VP debate
On the eve of what feels like Christmas, Rosh Hashana and New Year’s all wrapped into one, everyone from the politico pundits to recently registered voters are having a holiday all-their-own preparing for the Palin/Biden VP debate Thursday night.
Beyond the traditional, “debatable” questions and issues most candidates face when they go head to head during a debate, there will be MUCH more going on in that room.
With predictions of embarrassing failure, impressive success and simply going mute, Palin has a lot to live up to no matter how you look at it.
Her performance runs far deeper than whether or not she can name ONE other Supreme Court ruling than Roe v. Wade, or if she knows what the Bush Doctrine is, or what John McCain actually does as a “reformer”, or what she would be doing as VP, or the name of a publication she reads.
Come on people, back off! Why is everyone (namely media) harassing Sarah Palin with all of these trick questions? How dare you.
Oh, wait, that’s right…because she’s looking to us for her votes. And, we obviously can’t “vote” for someone we don’t really know or understand their beliefs and politics. Right?
Wrong. This is America. We can all go vote for WHOEVER we want, based on WHATEVER reasons we want - no matter how illogical or irrelevant.
So, as I’ve recently had the pleasure of reading and hearing, some voters are choosing the Palin ticket based on really awesome things like - her religion, her personal life and interests (i.e., hunting), her adorable accent, and her personality in general.
Don’t let this be misleading - people in the blue parts of the country have a lot of the same reasons for voting Obama. However, this is my very point. Over the last few months it’s become apparent that people are more focused on who they “like” better than who is actually “fit” to lead our nation.
It is commonly known that personality or “popularity” is far more important than say, brains or knowledge
in high school or in the Kappa Kappa Gamma’s of American Universities. It is however, less commonly discussed that those same rules apply in politics.
As we’ve all seen before - in the original (good) episodes of 90210 or perhaps in real life - the “Frat President” isn’t always the sharpest tool in the shed. They win people over with their personality, wit and tendency to conform. It’s not about what they will do to make your cafeteria food better or how they will raise money for the football team - it’s about their ability to attract attention. In school, attention equals popularity. Is politics so different?
I wouldn’t be so quick to judge Palin, McCain or the Republican Party on their ridiculousness (which it absolutely is) because you can’t get more ridiculous than George W. Bush. He was in this same position for EIGHT long years with an incredibly high approval rating in the early days, and his entire election - both times - was based purely on personality. It clearly wasn’t based on his knowledge.
In the words of Governor Palin about recent criticisms, ”Oh, I think they’re just not used to someone coming in from the outside saying you know what? It’s time that normal Joe six-pack American is finally represented in the position of vice presidency, and I think that that’s kind of taken some people off guard, and they’re out of sorts, and they’re ticked off about it.”
“Out of sorts.” Yeah, you could say that.
If PRESIDENT-ELECT Obama treats this country with half as much respect, care and honor as he does with his family, we are all in for a positive four (hopefully eight) years.
