Print ArticleThe political cradle of America is rocking! On September 04, 2008, the United States has given birth and laid in its cradle a sassy, vigorous, kicking, and bouncing new baby characteristically named the American iron lady. Sarah Palin on that unexpectedly wondrous day hit the political landscape of America with her feet running. Neither the ´silent´ mines exploding under her feet that the political machine of the Democrats had planted nor the booming hand grenades that the liberal media were throwing at her and her family were able to prevent her from running the race of the vice-presidency and like a sprightly Olympian athlete winning it with resounding accolades of glory. The savvy humorous content and the strength of her speech before millions of Americans was the oozing of her strong character from the depths of her soul. And, indeed, her speech was Hurricane Sarah hitting the east and west coasts of the United States, where the liberal intelligentsia lounges in, and pontificates on international and domestic issues from, the comfort of their glasshouses, wreaking havoc to their dreams and dislodging them from the certainty and complacency that the election of November 04 was already in the Democratic bag. In their panic seeing the rising waters of the Republicans inundating the country the educated elites are scurrying to find the kind of sand bags that would obstruct these waters from bringing on their crest McCain-Palin into the White House. And the sand bags are already piling up.
The eminent economist-cum-commentator Paul Krugman of the New York Times and his colleague the fiery and always charming but vitriol-splashing Maureen Dowd have discovered new mantras with which to attack the Republicans and their nominees McCain-Palin. Krugman asserts that the GOP is forging a new "strategy of resentment" to pounce upon the Democrats as being elitist that tend to "look down their noses at regular people." In his resuscitation of Nietzsche´s ´resentiment´ and intention to graft it on the stem of the Republican plant Krugman completely forgets or doesn´t want to admit that the Democrats are already running their campaign on a strategy of hate both against the Bush-Cheney administration and the GOP as well as all of their followers. So if it´s true that the Republican campaign is going to be infused with resentment against the Democrats and hence the competition will be between resentment and hate one perforce poses the question which campaign will be morally worse, one that runs on resentment or one that runs on hate?
Maureen Dowd on the other hand with master strokes of mockery and irony in which she is a virtuoso storms Palin´s status of inexperience in international affairs deriding her with the words an "oversized igloo (Eskimo house) becomes commander in chief after the president-elect on his first day chokes on a pretzel..." And telling Putin, a former KGB agent, that being an Alaskan close to the border of Russia she knows how to handle a gun and shoot straight, the implication of this mockery by Dowd being that such ´straight talk´ by Palin would force Putin to run to the United Nations asking for help.
But in reality what value experience has in the cutting edge knowledge of our contemporary times that only experts in their fields are qualified to delve in and make recommendations to governments with the precision of their expertise? Certainly some rudimentary experience is necessary in the affairs of state, and Palin as a mayor for four years and a governor for two appears to have that. And if a haberdasher and an actor made great presidents, Palin could also be in the same league. The authority and qualification for being commander in chief do not lie so much on experience but on intelligence and character. The presidency is a ´receptacle´ of knowledge attached to multiple channels of knowledge of other members of the executive and advisors and experts from the different departments of government. The task of the president is, once he has a number of recommendations on a specific issue coming from the professionals in the field, to make his/her decision, after intense study of the different recommendations, on the basis of intelligence and character. Palin´s tenure as mayor and governor as well as her speech before the Convention, undoubtedly show—of course her opponents with their bitter predilection to belittle and malign her will never admit this--that she is a highly intelligent person with a very strong character. And on these attributes alone she would make a great president if McCain somehow choked on his pretzel.
The Democrats may draft as many horses from the stables of Krugman and Dowd to pull their flat tyre omnibus that Palin punctuated with her entrance on the political proscenium of America beyond the finishing line on November 4, but the result will be, E pur non muove, (And yet, it doesn´t move) to paraphrase Galileo.
Over to you
The eminent economist-cum-commentator Paul Krugman of the New York Times and his colleague the fiery and always charming but vitriol-splashing Maureen Dowd have discovered new mantras with which to attack the Republicans and their nominees McCain-Palin. Krugman asserts that the GOP is forging a new "strategy of resentment" to pounce upon the Democrats as being elitist that tend to "look down their noses at regular people." In his resuscitation of Nietzsche´s ´resentiment´ and intention to graft it on the stem of the Republican plant Krugman completely forgets or doesn´t want to admit that the Democrats are already running their campaign on a strategy of hate both against the Bush-Cheney administration and the GOP as well as all of their followers. So if it´s true that the Republican campaign is going to be infused with resentment against the Democrats and hence the competition will be between resentment and hate one perforce poses the question which campaign will be morally worse, one that runs on resentment or one that runs on hate?
Maureen Dowd on the other hand with master strokes of mockery and irony in which she is a virtuoso storms Palin´s status of inexperience in international affairs deriding her with the words an "oversized igloo (Eskimo house) becomes commander in chief after the president-elect on his first day chokes on a pretzel..." And telling Putin, a former KGB agent, that being an Alaskan close to the border of Russia she knows how to handle a gun and shoot straight, the implication of this mockery by Dowd being that such ´straight talk´ by Palin would force Putin to run to the United Nations asking for help.
But in reality what value experience has in the cutting edge knowledge of our contemporary times that only experts in their fields are qualified to delve in and make recommendations to governments with the precision of their expertise? Certainly some rudimentary experience is necessary in the affairs of state, and Palin as a mayor for four years and a governor for two appears to have that. And if a haberdasher and an actor made great presidents, Palin could also be in the same league. The authority and qualification for being commander in chief do not lie so much on experience but on intelligence and character. The presidency is a ´receptacle´ of knowledge attached to multiple channels of knowledge of other members of the executive and advisors and experts from the different departments of government. The task of the president is, once he has a number of recommendations on a specific issue coming from the professionals in the field, to make his/her decision, after intense study of the different recommendations, on the basis of intelligence and character. Palin´s tenure as mayor and governor as well as her speech before the Convention, undoubtedly show—of course her opponents with their bitter predilection to belittle and malign her will never admit this--that she is a highly intelligent person with a very strong character. And on these attributes alone she would make a great president if McCain somehow choked on his pretzel.
The Democrats may draft as many horses from the stables of Krugman and Dowd to pull their flat tyre omnibus that Palin punctuated with her entrance on the political proscenium of America beyond the finishing line on November 4, but the result will be, E pur non muove, (And yet, it doesn´t move) to paraphrase Galileo.
Over to you
view author's RSS feed
