I am in my thirties, folks, which means that I am still rather young (to some people, at least). Yet, given my reaction to tonight's Vice Presidential debate versus what many pundits and American citizens are saying presently, I am obviously way, way out of step with about half of my country.
Frankly, tonight I found Governor Palin to be very likeable and quite good at making general emotional appeals, but horrendously unprepared to be the Vice President of the United States in the twenty-first century. (Say what you will, but she is no Hillary Clinton.) Governor Palin's generic, trademarked, homespun folksy attitude was trotted-out maddenly often; a little bit of that is fine and endearing, whereas a lot of that sort of thing is almost always used to compensate for a lack of something else. In this case, I think Governor Palin's "darn-it" interjections and the like were often used to muddle the fact that she simply has at present very little insofar as a detailed understanding of both foreign policy and the nuances of domestic policy are concerned.
I don't dislike Governor Palin. I simply find it both alarming and astonishing (as well as embarrassing) that in the twenty-first century we are not demanding presidential and vice presidential candidates who understand the nuances of the international world. That would seem to me to be a requirement of paramount importance. Though I disagree with him, I do believe that Senator McCain is qualified to be our nation's chief executive. Obviously, I feel the same about Barack Obama and Joe Biden. Sarah Palin is simply not in that league, which to me disqualifies her for the vice presidency.
Many of those who are knee-jerk and emotionally-driven (and, oh my, are there ever a lot of them) will call me "misogynistic" (even though Joe Biden has been a foremost advocate for women's rights for decades) and/or "elitist" (even though Joe Biden's background is very blue collar and Barack Obama did not grow up privileged, whereas John McCain is from a long-standing military dynasty). I can do nothing about such overly-simplistic charges; as we get older, we understand more and more that such is the way of life.
I am certainly not without my faults. For evidence of this, simply shift your eyes to the left column of this blog-site in order to see who I mistakenly endorsed to be Senator McCain's running mate this past July--that was a big, big error. So I am not trying to thunder like a know-it-all critical Zeus. But, my goodness, folks, the United States of America is 232 years old, which means that we should now be able to at least understand the necessity of having national leaders who have traveled the world extensively and who are exceptional thinkers. (And, as someone who certainly did not grow up with millions of dollars at hand but who has traveled outside of the United States quite often, the stupid suggestion that such a demand is "elitist" is just that--stupid.)
I don't really know what to say beyond that, except that this situation is a crazy sort of "Catch-22" in that any substantive criticism of Governor Palin will be labeled "overly-professorial" (which really means "not simplistic enough") or "anti-women" (I hardly know where to begin with that one). So I'll leave you with what I consider to be one of the most telling differences of the evening: Governor Palin chastised Senator Biden for what she saw as his constant referencing of the past (she called it "looking backward," and I don't think she was talking about the book by Edward Bellamy), whereas Senator Biden said in response, amongst other things, that "the past is prologue."
The past IS prologue. You don't really know where you are unless you know how you got there, and you can't plot properly a long-term trajectory without knowing well the road you've already traveled. That's the truth. It was the truth for Socrates and Plato, it's the truth today, and it will be the truth for centuries to come.
Yeah, yeah, I know: a lot of people would suggest that referencing Socrates and Plato is "elitism." Oh, dear....
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3 comments:
Good post Hass. It was a good debate but I really want to stress this: another great decision by Obama--his choice of Biden. He was impressive, smart, informed, on point and genuine. He didn't cede the folksy high ground to Palin and just hit the ball out of the park in a way that I don't think Hillary could have. Another good move by Obama.
Mr. Hasslington, you are anything but anti-woman and anything but elitist.
Placing a woman in a high leadership role for the sole purpose of undermining the image of female professionals who are moms--as the Republican party has--is anti-women.
We agree, I think, that many voters don't understand that this is happening.
However, while an elitist would they see it as their job to exploit the ignorant, you and I see it as our job to educate the uninformed.
You've done a good job educating me, my friend. I truly enjoy your blog.
Thank you to the both of you for your comments.
I want to reiterate my belief that Governor Palin seems to be a fairly good person (well, at least as far as politicians go...), and I feel the same regarding Senator Biden.
Ultimately, however, being likeable and giving off "good vibes" is simply not enough for a U.S. president or vice president in this increasingly smaller, very international world. A nuanced world view is an absolute necessity, whether we like it or not. (Personally, I like it.)
It is not anti-small-town-bias to criticize Governor Palin's very provincial world view, because we're talking about the person who may very well become the president. We've got very little room for error these days....
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