It seems the Straight Talk Express is on a runaway course, lurching all over the place, from Dramaville to Melt Down City to the Greater Metropolitan Life’sNotFair Area.
It’s not pretty.
In fact, it’s kind of sad to witness someone whom I once admired greatly, even when not in agreement with him, lose control in such a public manner. The more Sen. McCain displays his unstable nature, the more Sen. Obama is revealing himself to be a true leader for the 21st century. Here is a steady demeanor and deep intelligence that not only Americans but also citizens of other countries can be inspired by. It’s no wonder that the polls are starting to reach a tipping point in even some unexpected states.
Maybe it all comes down to karma in the end. Yet another mean-spirited convention. A cynical and (more apparently, now) stunningly miscalculated VP choice. An inclination to talk disparagingly of his opponent rather than present fresh, resonant ideas (in fairness, those fresh ideas may simply not exist). An over-reliance on outdated notions of lone mavericks riding in with guns ablazin’. In none of these instances does a leader emerge.
Watching this interview, it was hard not to think of a “please just let me disappear now” visit to the classroom to explain why the kid who showed so much promise at the beginning of the term just isn’t quite measuring up to her potential.
There’s the teacher, giving every opportunity for the student to redeem herself. There’s the student, stumbling while trying to talk her way out of the pickle she’s in. There’s the parent, doing a slow burn as he tries to defend his errant kid — even as his shifting eyes, pursed lips, and forced smile say: Just wait. Just WAIT till I give you the talking to you need.
Don’t quite know what to make of this little postcard that arrived in today’s mail, but I’m not liking it! Sure, I had a birthday a couple of weeks ago, but this is just kind of jarring. Am I really that mature? Do the magazines I subscribe to put me on the radar screen as a candidate for this one? I don’t think so.
One thing I noticed, though, about the postcard is that it has a little person doing a cartwheel.
Is John McCain’s “suspension” of his campaign kind of like when a celebrity checks into the hospital for “exhaustion?” Or, more close to home, like when one of my kids (and I myself, decades ago) suddenly developed a (cough, cough) “sore throat” the night before a big test?
Like David Letterman, I feel that something just doesn’t quite add up here. A would-be U.S. president who is 26-year U.S. senator and a former fighter pilot should be able to multi-task at least as well as a typical American working mom or dad. But maybe that ability comes more naturally to someone whose poll numbers are better. Considering the big issues–including our precarious economy–that need to be addressed, grandstanding one’s way out of a debate is no way to behave.
Whatever the case, I hope tomorrow’s debate remains on course. Voters deserve no less.
Some months back, well before John McCain and Barack Obama were their designated party nominees, I thought to myself that while, at the time, I admired many of Sen. McCain’s personal and political qualities, I also knew in my gut that the inevitability of hard-core campaigning and ugly play-to-the-base politics would eventually change my opinion. I felt wistful at the thought, knowing that in time I would bid farewell to my grudging admiration for the man. Leading up to that moment, I had even said many times to family and friends that if John McCain were to become president, and not Hillary Clinton or Barack Obama, I would be ok with it, because he, just as they, would surely restore our nation’s honor in the world.
Then, in barged that thought.
And now, months later, that moment’s realization is borne out day after day as I see t.v. ads wresting the words of Sen. Obama right out of their original context, violently twisting them until they’re unrecognizable from their first expression. I cringe, too, as the tactic of transformation is used to polish and burnish the raw words mined from McCain’s or Gov. Palin’s canon until they sparkle and glow with utter falseness. The John McCain I admired, the one who really WAS independent, has vanished, replaced by a culture warrior breathed to life from the us-against-them playbook of the past.
A Maverick-In-Chief and a Vice-Pitbull?
A hockey mom who’s a soulmate away from the presidency?
No, the easily digested labels and sound bites being flung around of late by the GOP don’t really work when you put them into the context of an actual presidential election. However, they do fascinate for the way they are serving to create a cult of personality around two loose cannons. In particular, the hoopla surrounding Gov. Palin’s kids and her daughter’s boyfriend is having the effect of turning them into celebrities like Britney and Paris. How ironic is that?
And how meta-celebrity that Lindsey Lohan and Britney’s sister Jamie Lynn Spears have weighed in on Bristol and her family! It’s all just a little too convenient how this typical, everyday hockey mom chose to use her children by shoving them into the glare of the national spotlight, then cried foul when people actually took notice. Kind of like being for the Bridge to Nowhere before being against it. Kind of like wanting to have your earmarks and eat ‘em, too. OK. Enough with the metaphors. Suffice it to say that I don’t know too many moms who would treat their kids this way. But then again, the moms I know are just a little too busy working, keeping an eye on their kids, attending PTA meetings, and steering clear of pitbulls.
Let’s talk about Executive Experience. Like George W. Bush’s. OK, let’s not.
Sen. McCain referred to the “good ole boy” network of the media, in regard to wanting news organizations and bloggers to back off from his running mate. What, the bar should be lowered just because she’s a girl?? Newflash, Sen. McCain: while I suppose you can try to make a case that Campbell Brown and Katie Couric are part of that “good ole boy” media, they, and a substantial portion of the media, are actually WOMEN who are doing their jobs. Let’s not stand in their way, ok?
As the Republican convention comes to a close, I expect that the euphoria and the OMG!! cheerleading by delegates and other folks from the conservative “base” will eventually give way to the more varied and clear-eyed views of mainstream voters, the ones whose lives depend on solid policies for the economy, health care, the handling of the wars in Iraq and Afganistan, the national infrastructure, energy costs, the environment, respect for the U.S. Constitution (that means no more attempts at book-banning, Gov. Palin), and even freedom of the press (it may have been expected that Pravda, circa 1979, would back off of digging into a candidate’s background and credentials, but it’s not o.k. here, in 2008).
I, for one, am very thankful for our nation’s freedom of expression and freedom of the press, whether that means old-fashioned newspapers, Jon Stewart (love him!), bloggers (totally addicted to Mudflats! http://mudflats.wordpress.com/), or just two neighbors talking to each other about what’s going on in the world.
Taking a break from obsessively checking the dirt on the characters in my new favorite soap opera (or is it a reality show), I just used my executive experience in the kitchen to whip up this really easy, really delicious macaroni and cheese recipe my mother gave me during my bridal shower. It’s so good, and yet it’s actually easier to make Kraft mac & cheese.
Here’s the recipe to ONE-STEP MACARONI & CHEESE:
2 cups uncooked macaroni (I’m using shells this time, because I forgot to buy elbows)
1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
3 1/2 cups milk
2 1/2 cups shredded cheddar (I actually use a bit more because I like a lot of cheese)
a dash of salt
paprika
Preheat oven to 350.
In greased (or “Pammed”) 12×8x2″ baking dish, stir uncooked macaroni, milk, Worcestershire sauce, salt, and 1 1/2 cups of the cheese until well blended. Cover tightly with foil. Bake for 50 minutes. Uncover and top with remaining shredded cheese and sprinkle liberally with paprika. Bake 10 more minutes or until cheese is melted. Let stand 10 minutes before serving.
Stop the spinning! It is almost too much to bear, listening to Sen. Joe Lieberman breathlessly declare his admiration for his BFF’s vice presidential pick Sarah Palin. Ugh. Blah. It’s so obvious that he doesn’t believe what he’s saying, just as it was so clear that Rudy Giuliani didn’t believe any of the words coming out of his mouth a few minutes earlier. I used to admire both of these men.
Now, on the other hand, New York Times columnist David Brooks, whose column I love to read, even when I don’t agree with his arguments, is providing a much more reasoned view of McCain’s vp calculations.
Last night, as my husband and I watched Jon Stewart on The Daily Show, I told him I couldn’t wait for Saturday Night Live to bring Tina Fey in as a guest host just so she could play Sarah Palin. She’d be brilliant, just as she is in pretty much everything she does. So not more than a minute later, Jon’s showing a picture of Tina Fey! Then one of Karen from Will & Grace! Then a “naughty librarian” from centraI casting! I guess a lot of people must have made the same initial visual references. No, no, no, we shouldn’t go on about appearance, and I generally refrain from it, and I usually hate it when others do it. But there are SOOO many serious, thoughtful, respected, experienced Republican women in office across the USA. Did none of them want the job? Were none of them considered?
So, here are some other questions we ponder:
Is John McCain experiencing any “morning after” remorse?
Has Sarah Palin been whisked away yet by a passel of voice coaches and hair and makeup artists? I hope not.
Does anyone who supported Hillary Clinton (as I did in the New Jersey primary) REALLY think that Sarah Palin is not a huge, pandering insult?
Will I ever love a newspaper headline as much as the one I saw on this morning’s Trentonian while walking our dog, Annie: IT’S A GIRL! I love the Trentonian’s headlines.
Are monologue and skit writers in Hollywood and NYC on their knees thanking God for this incredibly giving gesture by the McCain campaign?
Who takes care of the children of this traditional-conservative-family-values-hockeymom (gag) politician?
What, exactly, is this EXECUTIVE EXPERIENCE that seems to be the McCainers’ go-to sound bite about her qualifications? (To me, the fact that Sen. Obama comes with state and national legislative experience and community organizing and, oh yeah, a Harvard law degree, doesn’t exactly mean that he’s going to sit at his desk in the Oval Office wringing his hands, paralyzed at the thought of making an “executive” decision. ALL people make decisions EVERY day! No, they’re not necessarily on the world political stage, but humans — especially remarkably able ones like Barack Obama and Joe Biden — have the capacity to take the lead in an important decision.
Everyone knows that late-in-the-series episode of Happy Days where the Fonz gets on his waterskis and … jumps a shark. Well, that ratings ploy sure didn’t do the show any favors. And I’m thinking – well, strongly hoping – that this cynical choice by Team McCain will so undermine the direction of his campaign that it leads to a decisive victory by Obama-Biden.
Yes, Gov. Palin is a woman. But I feel emphatically that she will not work toward the advancement of women’s issues. She will take us backward. The ticket working toward the best interests of women — and, therefore, the best interests of the nation at large — is the two-man team of Barack Obama and Joe Biden.
