Kelley and I were talking about the election last night and it looks like Kelley and I are on opposite sides of the fence for the first time ever on a national election. In about 2 minutes the conversation got a little heated when the hot topic de jour came up- Sarah Palin (of course!). Kelley finds Sarah to be someone she can identify with and they hold similar positions on life issues. Kelley made some really good points:
- Palin lived her convictions when the chips were down (pre-natal diagnosis of Downs Syndrome).
- As a candidate she is facing criticism that men in similar positions would not face.
- Palin has a real track record as a reformer.
I agree with Kelley on all three points. However, for me, the nomination of Sarah Palin was a negative for the McCain campaign. In my eyes Sarah Palin is a small town mayor and a governor of a sparsely populated state that is vastly different from the rest of the US. Alaska just doesn’t face the same issues as the rest of America:
- Alaska’s economy is based on Oil/Gas, tourism and the US military.
- Alaska has almost no urban areas to speak of.
- The population demographics are totally different from the remainder of the U.S.
- Alaska is largely a harsh, unforgiving wilderness. They have bounties for wolves there.
- Many people still hunt and fish for sustenance.
None of these facts are good or bad, but they do illustrate just how different Alaska is from the rest of the US. I do not feel that her experience is sufficient to warrant appointment to the second highest office in the land. The people of Alaska feel she’s been a good governor. She is a very successful person. However, there are questions that need to be answered: what experience or knowledge does Sarah Palin possess about immigration, global economic issues, financial markets, oil/gas from the DEMAND side, social security or health care? I fear that her appointment was simply based on winning the election and not on who would enhance the ability of the McCain administration to govern effectively. If we set aside her admirable position on life issues what remains? If we conducted an objective assessment of qualifications where would Sarah Palin rank? If we limit the pool to women would she rank ahead of Liddy Dole, Olympia Snow, Christine Todd Whitman or Meg Whitman? Are we being pandered to?
I’m pretty discouraged from what I have heard so far. Albert Einstein once said that things should be made as simple as possible, but no simpler. Is “drill baby drill!” a good assessment of our energy issues and the proper response? Sounds a bit like “4 legs good, 2 legs baaaad.” Abstinence only sex education sounds fantastic, but the results show it doesn’t work. Teaching evangelical Christian creationism in the classroom next to evolutionary theory is, in my opinion, totally inappropriate. Why don’t we teach the creation stories of all faiths? And don’t tell me evolution is only a “theory”- in scientific usage “theory” is a very strong term (Gravity is a theory as well). “War on Terror” sounds good- very catchy. FDR said the only thing we have to fear is fear itself. We’re at war with an emotion; a disembodied amorphous concept that can be bent and shaped to whatever someone wants it to be. We’re getting sound bites and fluff from the McCain-Palin campaign. Was anyone outraged over “lipstick on a pig” before we were told to be? Does anyone know the context of that remark? We get jingles and symbols; catch phrases that stick in the head but lack any real significance when issues are looked at in depth. How many dumb emails have we gotten about who is or isn’t wearing flag pins, the Pledge of Allegiance, and Obama=Muslim? I was hopeful that McCain, a guy who has always walked to the beat of his drummer) would being depth to this campaign but we’re only getting more of the same.
Over the past eight years I’ve soured on the Republican Party. Too many substantive issues have been ignored, minimized or swept under the rug. Too many appointments have smacked of nepotism. We’re embroiled in two overseas conflicts; one seems similar to the colonial expansions of yesteryear while the other, the fully justified war to overthrow a dangerous and oppressive Taliban regime, drags on and on without enough troops, support or focus to finish. Executive privilege has become a catch-all bucket designed to excuse the president from answering for his actions. Erosion of privacy continues unabated. We’ve imprisoned people without charge. We torture people – read up on water boarding and tell me it’s not torture. If that doesn’t work we’re happy to turn a prisoner over to even more unscrupulous regimes for nastier treatment. Habeas Corpus seems to have been suspended without us even realizing it in the name of keeping us safe. Oil prices have soared through the roof. Our credit markets are a mess. Are we in a recession? Who knows?!?- We keep changing the rules on how we calculate growth and inflation. The only people who seem to be benefiting from this administration’s economic policies are Bush/Cheney cronies. Look at Halliburton and Exxon Mobil against the DJI over the past 5 years- how convenient.
I’m an independent who has never failed to vote Republican in a national election. Things will change this time around unless McCain & Palin do a few things:
Prove they aren’t going to be the third iteration of Bush-Cheney
Start outlining some concrete plans that are rational, not emotional, responses to our issues.
Divorce themselves from the sound-bite politics of the lowest common denominator
I’m not saying Barack Obama is the better candidate yet, but I’m darn dissatisfied with what the Republicans are serving up.
