Sarah Palin makes absolutely no sense as a Vice Presidential candidate. She's a mother of five kids. She lives above Anchorage in the real frozen tundra. She's been a commercial salmon fisherperson. Her husband is half-eskimo. She's only been governor less than two years and before that, practically a political nobody. She's a Hockey Mom. Her 17 year old daughter is five months pregnant. She has a business degree from the University of Idaho.
What I've just described, except the part about being a vice presidential candidate and governor, could be the description of about half the women her age (not is, but COULD be). She's clearly a real person. Her interests are real and not 100% connected to her job. Her politics and her faith go hand in hand. She lives in tough places not because of some tax break they allow her, but because that's where she lives. Her family has struggles like lots of other families. Her past has troubles like lots of other pasts.
It'd be easy to compare her to other, more polished, politicians and see her deficiencies. She didn't go to Yale or Harvard. She wasn't part of some secret Skull and Bones club. She hasn't been a diplomat and she didn't attend private schools. I dare say that up until a week ago, she'd probably never even met a secret service agent much less been protected by one.
Even her struggles have been real life struggles - not some conflict of political interest. When she discovered that she was going to have a Down Syndrome baby she had to make a real life choice about whether to bring the baby to term - not some hypothetical choice for other women, but one with real consequences for her own life.
I don't agree with most of her politics, but I still can't help liking Sarah Palin. The more we discover about her, the more the press really exposes her to scrutiny, the more I like. She is a real person. A real life person with real life problems and real life answers.
Ask yourself, when was the last time we had a real person in Washington D.C., much less the White House?
But for all that, I'm still voting for Obama. I like Sarah Palin, but I still won't vote for her. Still, I wish her luck in the election and in the future.
8 comments:
I think Governor Palin is going to appeal that "fuzzy middle" portion of the electorate which veers back and forth between the parties fairly regularly, for all the reasons you enunciate. Those on either wings of the political spectrum would give a standing ovation if "their" candidate stood up and did twenty minutes of armpit farts. Further, if my wife, who is fairly liberal, is any indication, the bru-ha-ha this past weekend which resulted in pundits questioning her commitment to motherhood in light of her political career, did Mr. Obama no favors. There's nothing successful professional women loathe more than having people, men especially, criticizing their maternal abilities. I suppose the good news for Mr. Obama, is my wife is still an "alien" and therefore cannot vote.
:)
Cheers.
On this, we agree.
Though to be fair, I'm not exactly sure that any "damage" was actually done since an equal number of women were insulted by the very nomination of this woman because they thought McCain was trying to pander to their sex by promoting an obviously unqualified but "sexy" candidate to Vice Presidential nominee - the usual mistake men in power make. I'd say that the two sides probably cancel each other out.
And also to be fair, Obama hasn't said squat about Sarah Palin - but he's sure taking the blame anyway. Honestly, if he had as much control over the media as the Republicans constantly try to give him credit for, this election would have been over a long time ago.
I like Palin too, Will. She gave a pretty decent speech last night, Obama-bashing not withstanding.
I've watched more of the Republican convention than I have of the Democratic one. It troubles me that much of the conversation has been about biography rather than policy.
And despite the fact that Palin is an appealing person, it's not hard to imagine there is a part of her that might abuse elected power as has been alleged. It will be interesting to see where that investigation goes...
I'm officially in the "fuzzy middle". Have been, probably always will be. I like Palin. I like Obama. I liked the McCain of 8 years ago (why couldn't he have beaten W in the primaries of 2000?) - not as much today's McCain. I don't like Biden.
That said, my vote will not be based on personal biography. My vote will not be based on personality.
I will probably say a quick prayer when I step into the voting booth, and make my choice at that moment I mark my box.
It's a write-in for Sherman/Robison. You guys can decide who's Prez or Veep.
Great to see you around here Dave! Stop by any time!
Andy - I defer to the gentleman from St. Louis. He's both wiser and he's got a wife to knock sense into him (if the kids don't do it first!) As Vice President I plan to do a lot of fishing... or whatever it is that Vice Presidents do.
I have to tell you (and Andy and Heather) that someone came to my site looking for prospect research advice and saw your blogs. She told me that I must be OK since I'm linking to you all.
Boy Dave...then I question that person's judgement...speaking for myself, of course...
I agree that there is something fresh with having someone so far from Washington, but I'm still uneasy. In my blog, most of my criticism was at her speech (I was bothered mostly by her body language).
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