Just Go

The most casual of readers of this blog know that I lean left of left. And the events of this past week has demonstrated that John McCain and Sarah Palin should just go away. When McCain suspended his campaign, some equated the move to a sports team calling a time out. Now it is clear that the McCain campaign should throw in the towel.

For a man to spew out the accusations that Obama does things for political gain borders on ludicrous considering McCain's actions throughout this campaign. First, they bring up the race issue in a not so subtle way and when Obama calls attention to it, they have the audacity to say he is playing the race card. They talk about Obama lack of experience and then pull from the tundra Sarah Palin, who by any measure is as politically naïve as one can get. They mock the community service of a young man out of college and in the next breath talk about country. One can assume by their statements that they feel a country shouldn't have its citizens pay their fair share of taxes. They talk about tax breaks as if the country has a surplus. They pretend John McCain can fix the economy when he doesn't even comprehend the complexities of what is happening.

But all this pales in comparison to the selection of Sarah Palin. It is a sad day when spin masters can take a naïve young politician and parade her as a maverick reformer. To attempt to change or modify her positions is to insult the electorate. It is not without good reason that they held this woman from the press. She sounds like a high school freshman trying to answer a teacher's question without reading the text.

One hears in her response a total lack of depth on any subject related to high office. She can talk about good and evil, but even then she gets confused and begins to sound like a broken record. If only the world and the issues facing this nation were so simplistic. This business of Alaska being closed to Russia is just plain asinine. Now she is touting as foreign expertise the fact that Alaska borders Canada.

Yes, it is time for the McCain campaign to throw in the towel. Perhaps, this long campaign cycle is what this country needed. The long and arduous road to the election brings out the best and worst of a candidate. It is clear that John McCain is a desperate man who feels he is entitled to ascend to the high office. He brings nothing to this debate save his tired ideas about victory and what is right. His moral compass is spinning madly as he realized that time and events have left him in a position of just being out of the picture. As for his running mate, she sounds like a little girl out of her element. Perhaps she should spend more time at home. It would seem her family needs her and she is not ready to be a heart beat from the presidency.

A Nation Divided

America is in decline. We are broaching upon the eventual demise of a once great idea. I would say country but America hasn't existed as a country for a while now. We are indeed a conglomerate of red and blue states. Our identity as a nation has been fractured beyond repair. How else can we be witness to a sitting president with 80% or so disapproval rating, yet a growing sense that the electorate is enamored by the entry of a naive, tough talking, small minded devious politician who cites slogans for policy statements?

A single look at an electoral map of these United States will reveal entrenched leanings that defy any attempt at unity. We are awash in a country of extremes. I lean toward the left and must admit that I have little tolerance for anyone who would impose their moral and religious beliefs upon me. Yet, all I heard at the Republican convention and the Palin rallies is the chant “USA” “USA.” And behind that chant is the belief that all of the actions of the past eight years are what this country is all about.

And as we grow close to election day, it would appear Americans are buying into the McCain and Palin ticket. Palin is the embodiment of the Ronald Reagan myth. She might well be channeling him. Reagan stands as an icon in American History to many people who never look critically at the past. Yet if we examine his record and the man, we see little but the facade of an independent, wild west kind of leader. It was as if he rode off the silver screen and into the hearts of the people. Palin storms out of Alaska with a whole new history contrived by spin masters designed to shape her as an independent reformer. She has the depth of a pit bull with lipstick, a phrase they coined for her persona. And the people take it in. It is no wonder she is fodder for pop magazine. Heck Paris Hilton and Brittany Spears are always plastered on the cover of the mass media.

Where does this leave us? Red Americans like to bad mouth intellectuals. They like to denigrate highly educated folks. Remember George W. was a “C” student. One wonders how he managed that average. McCain talks with pride at being at the bottom of his class. Palin likes to talk up the value of her small town mentality. George W's administration will go down in history as the most corrupt, most incompetent administration in this nation's history. Yet more awaits. It is not enough to be glib. That didn't save anyone who died in New Orleans. It is not enough to be tough. The lives of young soldiers are much too sacred to sacrifice. It isn't enough to lie to get the job. Because in the end, all the bluster and lies serve only to install but another bumbler who thinks that a Christian God is on his side. I had often thought that a common man would be the best president. But the job is much too complex and the world is a stew of dangerous complexities. It is interesting that the red Americans have long for the iconic Ronald Reagan to reappear on the scene. And give the Republicans operators credit for they found a young brazen shallow woman who speaks with the ease that only confidence in one's own ignorance can provide.