Wednesday, September 17, 2008

Political Rantings


I had started to get a little bored with the presidential campaigning. I watched a lot of the DNC convention during prime time. I loved Michelle Obama, I thought the Clintons did well, and I liked Obama's speech, although I wasn't riveted to it.

Then, the McCain campaign announced their choice for VP. Sarah Palin. And all of a sudden, I was once again obsessed with the campaigns.

There have been so many things swirling through my head since then, and I just want to spew them all out. Yes, I will spew. This is my own blog and I will not weigh my words as I usually so when I discuss politics with others. I am surrounded by family and friends who are mostly conservative and being adverse to contention, I rein in what I say. But, not here. Not now.

1. Did the McCain campaign really think they could pick up Hillary supporters with the Palin pick? Unless the only reason that supporters chose Hillary was because she was female. They are extremely different candidates, with such different policy objectives, but lots of women seem to love Palin. I guess it's because she's just so down-home. Haven't we had enough of that though?

2. Maybe the campaign was more interested in shoring up its support among the conservative evangelical base in picking Palin. And it seems like that is what happened. The base has been suspicious of McCain's conservative creds ever since the primaries began. Well, ever since a lot earlier than that. But Palin has everything they like. Strong resistance to abortion and gay marriage. And... Hmm. What else do they really care about?

3. The Palin pick only solidifies my perception that McCain is CRAZY! She wasn't properly vetted. He chose her at the last minute after meeting her briefly. And only after the conservatives threw a fit about him considering a more pro-choice pick like Ridge or Lieberman. So, he bowed to their demands and chose a virtual unknown without giving it a lot of thought. It could turn out to be a brilliant choice, or it could turn out to be horrible. Just that whim decision though. Kinda worrisome to me. "We just can't blink." Again, haven't we had enough of that? I want someone to weigh options, who will talk to lots of people, and think through reasoned approaches.

4. I wonder about her experience. I don't think her recent interviews show that she has a strong enough grasp of relevant policy issues to be the VP to what would be the oldest president ever elected. (You can see Russia from Alaska? What?)

5. Ok, and what about the RNC convention? I thought her convention speech (along with Giuliani and the others who spoke on Wed night of the RNC) were mocking, derisive, and full of partisan rancor and had nothing much to say about their own platforms, but were just basically trying to rip Obama apart. That really bothered me, especially their barbs about community organizing, which in a party that supports local government and grass roots movements felt hypocritical and curious.

So, yeah, I hated the bits I saw of the RNC convention. Palin had nothing substantive to say. Except for a few bits of misinformation about her record. "Thanks but no thanks"? Not so much. And the crowd? They were crazy. They get worked up and excited about Giuliani and Palin mocking Obama's experience in community organizing? They chant "zero zero" over and over to emphasize that the Dems have no executive experience with the Reps have what, 20 months as governor of Alaska? Oh, and don't forget Palin's time as mayor of a town of 5000 people. Ok, so they definitely have the upper hand on experience. And then "drill, baby, drill". The whole lackadaisical approach to energy and thinking that we can drill our way out of high gas prices? I don't like it.

And I got a kick out of Giuliani making fun of "cosmopolitan" to build up "small town". And Romney excoriating the "eastern elite." Really? CRAZY.

6. One more thing about Palin. I'm not sure about the mother thing. What I liked about her: she has come to a position of power in a non-traditional way, as did Pelosi. It's good to have female role models for various career routes. But, she has a newborn with Down's plus four other kids, which include a pregnant daughter. It seems like an awful lot for someone to take on, and I would say the exact same thing of a father in the same position. I have to ask myself: am I harder on her because she's a woman? Perhaps. I feel conflicted about this.

7. Now that he has won the primary and chosen Palin, McCain is back to being a maverick. Supposedly. I liked the McCain of 2000 a lot better than I do now. Now that he has been pandering to the far right wing of the Republican party.

8. McCain is trying to co-opt the change message. Excuse me though? You're the party of change? What? I don't know where this number comes from, so maybe I shouldn't cite it, but supposedly McCain has voted with Bush 90-95% of the time. I don't see how there is going to be much change with McCain in the White House.

9. It bothers me that the main campaigning strategy of the Republicans is to tear down Obama rather than push their own platforms. And that they are distorting Obama's strengths and turning them into weaknesses. Charisma is now celebrity. Education at Harvard is elite rather than resume strengthening. Is Palin's 5 random colleges, one of which she essentially failed out of, somehow better than Columbia and Harvard Law? Oh, yeah. She's one of us. And he probably got in with affirmative action.

10. Let's discuss this "elite" thing a bit more. Sidenote: why is eating arugula now the symbol of elitism? Ok, what I don't get is how Republicans are tarring the Dems with the label elite when Bush is a Yale grad with tons of money, when McCain comes from a string of Navy admirals and his wife is totally loaded with what, 8 houses? And those who question Palin's credentials and experiences are elites.

11. Ok, ok. So, we've all heard the pitbull with lipstick joke a few hundred times now. But, why is a pitbull so afraid of the media? That the campaign won't allow anyone to interview Palin who won't respect her and show deference for her? That her motherhood is off limits for discussion, and that we can't discuss Bristol's pregnancy--it's a family matter, and oh yeah, it makes her just like us again--but, yet she parades her family and brand new baby around the convention and makes her motherhood part of her campaign image.

After the RNC convention, I was simmering for a while. I was so bothered by the tone, by the speeches, by the way they mocked "community organizing." (I think that is one of Obama's strengths--he has actually been on the ground dealing with poverty and all its accompanying problems. ) But watching Jon Stewart and the Daily Show's coverage of the RNC all in one night, though, it felt so good to laugh REALLY hard. They were able to turn all my issues around and make me laugh. And though I'm still bothered, I don't feel quite as enraged.

7 comments:

Ryan said...

M--why rein in what you say around your conservative family? My political views are too ill-researched to mean anything to me. As such, it is impossible for political views to be a source of contention. Not much going on at work today so here is a large response:

Although the Palin pick was clearly politically motivated, I don’t think it was a whim decision. The Palin pick has proven to be a stroke of strategic genius for the McCain campaign for exactly the reasons that anger you. Palin electrified “the base” and the ultra right-wingers are now enlisted in the McCain/Palin cause—whatever that is. The election was all but lost for McCain after the DNC. Obama dominated the media as McCain is dull and more of the same. With Palin, however, the McCain/Palin ticket’s media exposure spiked and they are now in the race. There would not have been a turn around in the poll numbers if Pawlenty, Romney, or Ridge had been picked. Voters had their minds made up about how they would vote if any of those guys had been selected.

Palin came out of the blue, which means that people who were on the fence with Obama, or people who had always been undecided must think twice with a fresh face, unvetted and unknown. The only impression Palin had to make was a first impression. Palin makes a good first impression because she is powerful, attractive, seems normal, and can deliver a joke in a speech. Rather than “crazy,” I think “ingenious” or “diabolical” would be better word to describe McCain’s pick.

I think we can fairly call Palin terribly inexperienced. This is another reason why the Palin pick is ingenious/diabolical: it raises the issue of Obama’s inexperience, which was a major theme of the primary campaign (Clinton made the argument, again and again, that Obama was too inexperienced to be President) and a constant issue in the discussions of the right-wingers during the current campaign. Commentators compare Obama and Palin instead of McCain and Obama or Biden and Palin. This is terrible for Obama because he is stuck trying to make arguments about why being a community organizer is more presidential than being a mayor or why being a legislator for two years is more presidential than being a governor for two years. The Palin pick forces a compare and contrast game that Obama does not want to play.

On a side note, does experience really matter? If experience mattered, then why do we have Obama, Biden, McCain, or Palin on either ticket? If experience mattered, then why don’t we have Gen. Wesley Clark and Warren Buffet on the left vs. Gen. David Petraus & Alan Greenspan on the right? My answer is that I don’t think experience is a big deal to most voters.

I agree that the RNC was over-the-top Obama bashing. But I saw just as much negativity from the DNC. Political Conventions are hour-long campaign commercials and so I don’t want to waste time criticizing what happened at the Conventions—sound byting, taking quotes out of context, distortion of facts, and sensationalism. But this is what I have to say about the 2008 RNC and DNC:

The theme of the DNC was: McCain = Bush; Bush = Bad; therefore, McCain = Bad. This is too much of a logical stretch for most Americans who vote based on their favorite personality in the race. In contrast, the theme of the RNC was Obama = Bad. The RNC speakers used their most charismatic personalities, Gulianni and Palin, to make this argument. Then McCain spoke, mentioning Obama’s name only once to acknowledge that Obama is a worthy opponent. In his DNC speech, Obama also acknowledged McCain as worthy opponent, but then dedicated twenty minutes of his hour-long speech to equating McCain with Bush. This was probably a good strategy for the Democrats as 70% of voters are dissatisfied with Bush, but some people are not buying the Bush = McCain connection. So the RNC may have been more of a strategic success than the DNC.

I remain an undecided voter. I believe the Republicans are beating the Democrats in campaign strategy. This won’t sway my vote either way, but I disagree that McCain’s pick was crazy and impulsive. This should be a run-away election for the Democrats and it hasn’t been.

Without malcontent,

R.B.

Belle said...

Wow, RB--this is the longest comment anyone has ever left on this blog. Thanks!

If all of church associates and family were as reasoned and thoughtful as you, I would gladly discuss politics. But, let's take tonight as an example. A woman I ate dinner with bashed Obama: "I can never vote for someone whose favorite book is dedicated to Satan." "His brother in Kenya is trying to overthrow the government there." "I can't vote for someone with so much hatred."

Perhaps I am as guilty as her of partisanship. But, for goodness sake, I want to talk about the issues. And it's the tone that really bothers me, her tone and others that I don't like to discuss politics with. Maybe you're right with your analysis of the RNC and the DNC. But, there was a marked difference in tone between the dems' speeches and the republicans' speeches, at least in the ones that I heard.

I think you're right that the Palin pick was incredibly brilliant and has been extremely successful at rallying and energizing the party. I'm sure at least some of my reaction to her is due to the fear and nervousness I feel as I contemplate Obama not winning. This was the year for the Dems--everything lined up for them. And I am really invested in him as a candidate.

Thanks again for your thoughts. And I stand by my earlier idea that your second career should be a political analyst!

Maryanne said...

I understand what you say about reining in your political discussion--especially with my in-laws and even here in the most liberal ward I've been in. I feel strongly enough about this election (in large part for the reasons you listed in your post) that we just got an Obama yard sign, but I wonder if certain ward members will think ill of me for it. Why can't we just discuss issues instead of making thinly-disguised racist comments or repeating the McCain ad lies?

Hope you're well with your 3-- we are hanging on (barely sometimes) with our 4th having arrived in May.

andalucy said...

R.B., I really appreciate your analysis. I've had some of the same thoughts, though maybe not as coherent. :-) I'm also an undecided voter.

I can see why a Democrat would not enjoy Palin's speech at the RNC. Her roll is the attack dog and she attacked. I've found it interesting to hear more women calling her "mean" than men. I wonder if women have a harder time accepting a woman in this roll. Some how I think it would't have been as worthy of comment if a man had given the same speech. It would have been expected. (Okay, so it wouldn't have been expected for a man to call himself a hockey mom or pitbull with lipstick, but you know what I mean--the jabs at Obama.) I still think women are judging Palin harshly regarding her family because she's a woman. For one thing, we don't know all the facts. And I agree with Obama that it's not relevant. What if McCain had picked a certain ex-mayor for VP whose been divorced three times and whose own son has called him a bad father? Would we be questioning his judgement as a VP because he's made poor decisions in his personal life? I don't think so.

Another reason the Palin pick was a stroke of genius: the feminist and media reaction to her has been so extreme, it's turned her into teflon. Swing voters are going to, at the very least, find distasteful any criticisms thrown her way by the media or Obama camp. So the more they poke at her, the better for McCain. Biden will have to tread very carefully in the debate, but Palin can only fail in the debate if she totally screws it up herself.

Comments from the woman you ate dinner with: yikes.

Belle said...

Maryanne! So great to hear from you. I am still waiting for my Obama yard sign. I really want it to come soon so it can spend at least a few weeks in our yard before the election. And I want it to be here before book group is at my house in October. Does Jared have the same political views as you? I am really grateful that AJ--independent that he is--is on the Obama wagon this year because I too feel so invested in this election and would hate to deal with intra-household contentions.

Belle said...

Calandria, I am looking forward to all the debates. I think that the Palin fascination is starting to play itself out and hope that the debates can showcase positions.

As for her convention speech--I guess I haven't heard many people/pundits calling her mean per se, more on the lines that she attacked Obama. It was in the same vein, for me at least, as Giuliani, Romney, and the other speakers that night. Maybe that's what a vp candidate is for--the attack dog. Did I personally react differently to her than to the other speakers because she is a woman? Hmm. Hard to say. I don't think so, but maybe others are?

Maryanne said...

Jared and I don't agree on all issues politically but we're both for Obama this year, so that does make things easier. Especially since I feel strongly that McCain does not know how to deal with domestic issues and that his approach to foreign policy is scary (how many places can we invade?) I must say to Calandria that, yes, I did have reservations about Giuliani because of his slimy personal life and also because his politics and dictator-like style repulse me, but this may be b/c I'm a New Yorker. Lots of people I've met and who bring him up don't seem to know about or care about his family life-- not sure if there's a gender inequality there or if it's just b/c he didn't make it farther.