Okay, I've been called out--slapped down by Krauthammer, for being an "intellectually condescending" "establishment snob," expressing my disdain for "the mother of five who presumes to play on [my] stage." ("Charlie Gibson's Gaffe," The Washington Post, 9/13/08)
Well...not exactly. I started this blog about 10 minutes ago, so I'm assuming it will take at least a week before I could reasonably be called a member of the "East Coast Media Elite." Maybe two. I don't live on the east coast, I never attended an Ivy League school, and the dot-com boom came and went without making me an instant millionaire. Nope, I'm just a low-brow observer from a fly-over state, putting in my $0.02.
But let's leave that aside...and by the way, it might be best, as well, to leave aside the fact Charles Krauthammer has rarely written a column that DIDN'T condescend to those of us beneath his storied intellectual level. Krauthammer wasn't really talking to me (I'm not important, as far as he's concerned) and his point was aimed in a completely different direction, but it struck an unexpected chord with me.
There's been an incredible amount of ink (from both sides of the "aisle") spent bemoaning "lack of experience"--essentially attacking candidates' resumes (or lack of same). It's a valid argument, as far as it goes--we as Americans aren't particularly interested in having the nation's CEO role inhabited by a mailroom clerk, or a fry cook (my apologies to mailroom clerks and fry cooks--they're fine people, but probably underqualified to run a country...or ARE they?--consider the current occupant of 1600 Pennsylvania Ave).
But the idealistic egalitarian in me was actually moved by the last 11 words of Krauthammer's column--"the mother of five who presumes to play on their stage." The side of me that is Horatio-Alger-inspired had to ask, "okay...shouldn't ANY person be considered "good enough" for political office, as long as the majority votes for her/him? Isn't that what America is all about?"
I should back-track here--I suspect I'm a Democrat. That's an unconfirmed rumor, owing to the frequency with which Democratic candidates and officeholders continue to disappoint me.
What I AM pretty sure about is that I'm not a Republican--as Frank Zappa once said, "The Republican Party isn't a Party--it's a species." Despite the fact that, as I grow older, I find myself migrating toward certain conservative attitudes (mostly having to do with caution, respect for history and precedent, and the idea that creating more government bureaucracy isn't an automatic "yes") I have grown increasingly resentful of the fact that conservatism (of a fiscal and procedural nature) has been hijacked, as a position, by a party (Republicans) whom I find to be cold-hearted, greedy, hypocritical, and in many instances criminal (and that's without even bringing "intelligent design" into it).
I was interested that the point Krauthammer MADE (even though I don't think it's what he meant) is that we're all arguing about experience, credentials, and a certain level of required "gravitas" in our candidates--and that's what is monopolizing the conversation now, as if the entire election hinged not on the different agendas of the parties and their candidates, but rather on whether or not a pre-set set of experience-check-boxes is filled to our satisfaction. We're comparing resumes, length of service, etc. instead of the obvious differences in intent between the two (count 'em...that's all the choice we get) parties.
The thought that Krauthammer's column sparked in me was that all this talk of "how old," "how long," "how many foreign heads of state have you met," blah blah blah...is essentially functioning as a distraction, one that nearly descends to the level of fluff. What it made me realize is that whether or not Sarah Palin has or hasn't had enough experience isn't the most important thing to me (though it's not chopped liver, by any means). What's important to me is that I abhor so much of what she stands for, and that I'm terrified by the similarities to our current president, particularly her statement that "you have to be wired in such a way of being so committed to the mission," that "you don't blink."
Barack Obama's experience level is less-than comprehensive (though, on a national level, clearly superior to Palin's) but he doesn't frighten me...Sarah Palin frightens me, in the same way that beer-soaked WWF-watching "We're number one" hair-trigger hawks frighten me. America is a great country, but it's not the ONLY country on Earth, and to pretend that America's self-serving interests around the globe are all-consuming, and that citizens of others are "lesser mortals" is a recipe for a catastrophe of (pardon my pun) biblical proportions.
Let's forget for a moment that Ms. Palin is unblinkingly committed to the proposition that American women don't have the right to control their own (her own?!?) bodies. Let's forget Troopergate II, or the BYO rape-kit scandal. Let's forget her "do as I say, not as I do" approach regarding her pregnant teen daughter (and all those OTHER sinners out there, in the flyover states, she'd presume to save from pre-marital sex with prayer in schools, and "faith-based initiatives").
Nope, let's just imagine what "not blinking" has wrought already, and the seriousness of the consequences that might ensue if, after replacing the recently incapacitated Mr. McCain in the commander-in-chief chair, some "lesser mortal" from another country had the incomprehensible audacity to look sideways at the Mighty U.S. of A.
You think we spend a lot on defense now? You ain't seen nuthin' yet.
Do I think Sarah Palin has enough experience to lead the country? No.
But that doesn't worry me nearly as much as her lack of sense, of wisdom, of intelligence.
The woman frightens me. Her resume doesn't frighten me. SHE frightens me.
The campaigns seem intent on focusing the debate on non-ideological qualifications. This is understandable, since each party's BASE is pretty much a given, and the focus of the sales pitch is now the undecided, independent voter (who is sick of hearing about abortion, God/Guns/Gays, & the stuck-CD "nine-eleven" mantra).
The experience arguments, however, are inconclusive, and unlikely to produce any resolution. The danger is that we could be yapping about that all the way until November.
So if we put aside the experience talk, I guess you're left with a choice (since McCain effectively took himself out of the game when he chose Palin as the new face of the Republican Party) between "folksy" wisdom, and wisdom borne of study, intellectual curiosity, and hard work training a mind instead of a gun-hand.
We've had "folksy."
Like what you've seen? We can get you more...just press "R" in November.
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