I know that I’m very liberal-minded, but I also consider myself fairly objective and open-minded. So I’ve been watching the Republican National Convention almost as concertedly as I had watched the DNC last week. I try to listen to the people speaking without feeling defensive because I want to understand their perspective and not end up being as guilty of double-standards as many of the Fox News pundits have been lately (watch last night’s The Daily Show with Jon Stewart for such evidence). It is more difficult than I thought.
I tried to watch W. the other night and couldn’t get through more than a minute of it before changing the channel. There is a reason that his approval rating is so low and I’m reminded of it every time he opens his mouth. But last night I DID manage to watch all of Sarah Palin’s introductory/acceptance speech. I listened, I kept an open mind, and in the end I still found myself annoyed and rolling my eyes. It was a good speech and she said the right things to convince the conservative base that she is the right person for the job. But she didn’t say anything that would woo me in their direction. While I’m glad that she said “no thanks” to the ‘Bridge to Nowhere’, there is no amount of rhetoric that will convince me that drilling for more oil anywhere is a good idea (much like I could not be convinced that hunting for terrorists and WMDs in Iraq was a good idea). I also am not convinced that there is such a thing as clean coal technology.
I can see that the experience card is going to get played a lot on both sides from now until November. But I think from an objective standpoint, you have to agree that Obama’s experience is more extensive than Palin’s. While yes, mayor and governor jobs are more similar to the presidency than legislative positions, Obama has probably had to handle and be aware of more president-related issues in his 4 years in the senate than Palin may have been exposed to in the remote state of Alaska. Also, the comparison is generally moot since Palin is only the VP – for that job, legislative experience is actually more valuable than executive experience which makes Biden the better VP candidate in this election. And while McCain inarguably has way more experience than Obama in his Senate tenure, that doesn’t change the fact that Obama echos the sentiments I care about and is gunning for changes I want to see on more levels than McCain.
So in the end, Palin can convey well what is written for her (she should be able to being a former beauty queen and sportscaster), but she doesn’t convey any of the ideals with which I agree and there is nothing in her experience or character to which I’m drawn (though some might say she at least has the MILF-factor – not sure that is enough for a vote). It seems to me that the GOP is opting to use her to say the harsher things that McCain shouldn’t say himself. But I’d imagine we will see the same tactic from the Democrats in the weeks to come, and I think it will have more weight coming from someone who is actually in the trenches and knows a thing or two about DC. People may argue about whether Palin was properly vetted, at this point, I’m not going to complain. Based on what I’ve seen, McCain and Co. are doing what they need to do to secure this election … for Obama.