Colin Powell's Voice of Wisdom

Colin Powell’s endorsement of Obama for president was important in many ways, mostly because it was based on wise and thoughtful arguments for Obama as a “transformational” leader. It was also important because, finally, a respected politician spoke up against the bigoted equation of “muslim” with “terrorist” that McCain and Palin have been propagating.

Here are a few quotes from Washington Post's article about Powell’s endorsement:

“Powell also said he was troubled by Republicans who "said such things as 'Well, you know that Mr. Obama is a Muslim.' Well, the correct answer is 'He is not a Muslim; he is a Christian. He's always been a Christian.' But the really right answer is 'What if he is?' "

"Is there something wrong with being a Muslim in this country?" he added. ". . . Is there something wrong with some 7-year-old Muslim American kid believing that he or she could become president? Yet, I have heard senior members of my own party drop the suggestion, 'He's a Muslim, and he might be associated with terrorists.' This is not the way we should be doing it in America.""

It was about time someone pointed this out. How is it that “muslim” has become a derogatory term? And the same apparently goes for “Arab.” I was appalled when McCain sought to defend Obama against the racist bigotry of the Republican base. A woman at a town hall meeting tells McCain that she is scared of Obama because “he is an Arab”. McCain’s answer: “No, no, ma’am, he’s not; he’s a decent family man.” As if “Arab” and “decent family man” are mutually exclusive. Most media reported this as an example of McCain trying to do the honorable thing and renouncing his own campaign’s nasty scare tactics. And yes, his motive might have been to seem honorable and salvage a bit of his reputation, but couldn’t he do that without implying that “Arab” is a pejorative?

I realize that if Obama really were a muslim, or an Arab, he wouldn’t stand a chance in this presidential election. Electing an African-American is enough of a stretch for mainstream America at this point. But that does not permit us to accept blatant xenophobia. The United States is and should continue to be a multi-cultural society with room for people of all nationalities, ethnicities, and religions. Thank you, General Powell, for bringing a voice of wisdom and reason into the public discourse.

Sarah Barracuda is turning up the heat

Well, Sarah Palin didn’t get booted off the ticket. Instead, she’s back in full force. And she’s in attack mode. I guess you could say Palin did “well” in last week’s debate, in terms of looking self-confident and strong. She was sure to appeal to the right-wing Republican base, but most other people were turned off by her performance. She didn’t stumble the way she did in her Couric interview, but that was only because she set her own rules and chose to ignore the moderator. She bluntly stated that she wasn’t going to answer the questions; she was just going to talk about whatever she wanted. And she did. She talked about “mavericks” coming to Washington to “shake things up” (as if McCain hasn’t already been there for 26 years), and she talked about “energy policy,” as if she actually has something to contribute to this discussion.

Joe Biden tried to catch her on her evasive responses on several occasions, but moderator Gwen Ifill hardly ever followed up. Perhaps she was subdued by the pre-debate discussion of her possible bias, or perhaps it was simply the debate format, which only allotted a short time for each answer.

Biden may have looked old and tired compared to Super Sarah, but his answers were substantial and meaningful. He did a very good job of presenting the Obama/Biden ticket and what they stood for. When Palin ventured away from uttering catch phrases (“maverick”, “energy”), she managed to get herself into trouble. As, for example when she talked about climate change. First she states that it’s not manmade. Then she says that we need to take action by reducing emissions. Why would that help if man-made emissions haven’t contributed to the problem in the first place?

She’s also stunningly unprofessional. As when she gave a shout-out to her brother’s third grade class, telling them they would get extra credit if they watched the debate. That’s about as mature as saying “Hi Mom” and waving at the camera. Does she realize that she’s running for the second-most important office in the nation, not for VP of the local PTA?

What is really appalling about her performance is her over-confident attitude combined with her complete lack of knowledge. I cringe when she says, in that scornful voice she has mastered to perfection, that Obama is “beyond naïve” in wanting to meet with leaders of hostile nations. She has absolutely no credibility in anything relating to foreign affairs, and she can only get away with such statements because she is taking no questions from anyone who might challenge her statements.

True ignorance is not knowing how much you don’t know. And that is truly dangerous.

When is Palin going to withdraw from the race?

Sarah Palin’s disastrous interview with Katie Couric last week has been widely criticized, and some sound bites have been played over and over again, such as Palin’s absurd statements about Putin rearing his head over Alaska, but every part of the interview revealed that she is a person who has never seriously considered any issues regarding matters outside “the great state of Alaska.” On top of that, she tries to mask her ignorance by being arrogant and condescending. Here’s one of the lesser-heard exchanges from the interview:

Couric: In preparing for this conversation, a lot of our viewers … and Internet users wanted to know why you did not get a passport until last year. And they wondered if that indicated a lack of interest and curiosity in the world.

Palin: I'm not one of those who maybe came from a background of, you know, kids who perhaps graduate college and their parents give them a passport and give them a backpack and say go off and travel the world.

No, I've worked all my life. In fact, I usually had two jobs all my life until I had kids. I was not a part of, I guess, that culture. The way that I have understood the world is through education, through books, through mediums that have provided me a lot of perspective on the world.

There were a lot of ways she could have answered this question without insulting people who actually do travel abroad. Apparently she believes that only spoiled rich kids would travel outside the U.S. and only because their parents tell them to do so. It doesn’t occur to her that there are people who have a natural curiosity to see the world, and who might work to save money so they can travel.

And look at the last sentence. This woman has a degree in journalism, and she doesn’t know that the correct plural form is “media.” Somehow she missed that snippet of information during her six years at five colleges. When you use the plural form “mediums,” you are referring to psychic people, as in the TV show “Medium.” I don’t think that’s what she meant to say.

After her performance at this interview, plus her consistently absurd answers to the few questions she has taken from reporters, I seriously believe that the McCain camp will have to let her go. They have no other choice. And it will happen before the debate on Thursday. They will find a time to announce it when it is most likely to be overshadowed by other news – which shouldn’t be too hard to find these days – and they will wait as long as possible, to give Joe Biden as little time as possible to prepare for a different opponent. But it is going to happen.

Is McCain ready to implode?

I’m getting addicted to reading political news coverage. It’s fascinating and scary at the same time to watch what is happening. It’s truly amazing to see the McCain/Palin campaign implode, and it is frightening to see that McCain is still even with Obama in polls. It can only be a matter of time before that starts to change. I’ve never quite understood why anyone would want to vote Republican, but now it’s even harder to comprehend. Each day brings new damaging revelations. Palin is emerging not only as a person who’s ignorant of anything that doesn’t involve moose or hockey, but also as a shrewd politician who governs by secrecy, favoritism, and lack of willingness to listen to critics. Sounds eerily familiar to George W. Bush. And poor McCain, I actually feel sorry for him. At one point he was known for his honesty and integrity, but he has given up every shred of that in order to become “electable,” and he doesn’t look like he’s enjoying his new persona at all.

It’s interesting to see how McCain and Obama are responding to the current financial crisis. McCain comes out with rash statements that are meant to sound decisive but turn out to be hotheaded, and he has to backtrack and change his mind on a daily basis. Obama, on the other hand, chooses to step back and review the current situation and discuss the options with financial advisors before he will announce specific plans for dealing with the crisis.

Who would you rather want to be president? Someone who favors rash decisions that turn out to be wrong? Or someone who wants to absorb and understand the facts and discuss options and scenarios with knowledgeable people before reaching any conclusions? That should be an easy choice. Of course a president must be decisive, but a president should also be levelheaded and capable of making rational, intelligent, and carefully deliberated decisions. The ability to think before acting is a mark of wisdom. So is the willingness to listen to people who disagree with you.

Oh, and by the way, with all the Republican chatter about “tax-and-spend” Democrats, it’s worth noting that a simple statistical analysis of economic conditions from 1959 to 2007 shows that under Democratic presidents, the economy does better on every important measure. Taxes are lower, government spending is lower, unemployment is lower, inflation is lower, budget deficit is lower (or surplus is higher) and the economy is growing at a faster rate. Again, it should be an easy choice.

One Scary Lady

I stand corrected. Sarah Barracuda is not entertaining; she’s downright scary. It’s not her soap opera family (though the hypocrisy is appalling: the media are told to stay away from the pregnant teenage daughter, yet the poor girl and her hapless boyfriend are placed in the front row during Palin’s convention speech); it’s the issues. The more I read about Palin, the less I like her. To think that Hillary supporters would ever vote for this woman is preposterous. She stands for the exact opposite of everything Hillary stands for. Sarah Palin is pro-life, anti-gay, anti-gun control. As the mayor of Wasilla she wanted to ban books from the local library and threatened to fire the librarian when she wouldn’t comply. She wants creationism taught in schools. Her answer to our energy problems is simple: Drill, drill, drill for more oil. Nothing about saving energy.

She’s far to the right of John McCain, and disagrees with him on issues where he has taken a moderate stand. For example, she doesn’t think global warming is caused by humans and thus wants to do nothing about it. She wants to drill in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, which McCain does not. She is by no means anti-lobbyism; she hired a lobbyist to secure federal funds for the tiny town of Wasilla. She was in favor of the “Bridge to Nowhere” until it was politically convenient to oppose it. Her economic politics are reckless, reminiscent of George W. Bush. I read about this on blogs (but, I admit, not from any “reputable” sources). Apparently, as mayor of Wasilla she turned a balanced budget into a large deficit. She lowered taxes for businesses but raised taxes for ordinary people. As governor of Alaska she wants to hand the state’s surplus out to citizens while borrowing money for necessary projects.

I watched part of her speech at the Republican National Convention last night – I couldn’t bear to watch it all, but I watched enough to see that she’s one tough lady. The blog rumors have it that she’s ambitious, ruthless, and stops at nothing to get what she wants. One of the TV commentators pointed out that her speech brought the culture wars back into the spotlight. Hasn’t John McCain tried to position himself as someone who can work across the aisle and favors bipartisanship? God help us if this woman is elected to the second-highest office in the nation. I hope that the American people will see her extremist views and stay far, far away from her.

A Brilliant Choice, Indeed

In my latest post I said that McCain’s choice of Alaska Governor Sarah Palin for VP was a brilliant move. Well, the line between genius and madness is a fine one, and we have yet to see which it is in this case. It may be a brilliant move, indeed – for the Democrats.

So far it is at least very entertaining, with Palin’s soap opera life story being unrolled in the media. First, there are the rumors all over the internet that Palin’s five months old baby is really the child of her teenage daughter. Then the campaign comes out with news that the teenage daughter is indeed pregnant (conveniently, she’s exactly five months pregnant, effectively putting an end to the rumors). None of this should matter, of course, except that it does bear some relevance to Palin's political positions. She, her baby (who was born with Down Syndrome), and her daughter are living proof of Palin’s pro-life ideals, which will surely make the Evangelicals happy (though they’ll have to overlook the moral issue of an unwed teenage mom). To others, her daughter’s pregnancy is evidence of the folly of Palin’s abstinence-only sex education policy.

Even if Palin’s and her daughter’s reproductive choices should be off-limits, thornier issues are surfacing. Such as the ethical investigation into her possible attempt to get her ex-brother-in-law fired from his job as a state trooper, with Palin ultimately firing his boss for not complying. The report on this issue will be released a few days before the general election. There’s also the question of whether she really was against the “Bridge to Nowhere” and other earmarks, or if she’s simply a political opportunist just like everyone else, taking the position that best suits her at the moment.

However these issues play out, it becomes increasingly clear that McCain made a very spontaneous decision that could turn out to be disastrous for him. He has effectively undercut his own casting of Obama as not being ready to lead. He has made people seriously question his judgment and ability to make important decisions. My guess is that the social conservative voters are going to love Palin, and McCain will largely have secured their support with this choice. But he’ll have independent voters and moderate Republicans scratching their heads. We’ll have to see how Palin fares once she starts actually saying something, other than talking about her family and her general ideas about politics. But it’s hard to imagine that she’ll do well discussing foreign policy, national security, or economy.

Obama seems to be born under a lucky star that has helped him so far in his political career. This comes just as his poll numbers started slipping. It could be the gift he needs to keep going. Thank you, John McCain!

Who picked the best VP?

I hate to say this, but McCain’s choice of Alaska governor Sarah Palin for VP is a brilliant move, and a great way to invigorate his campaign. She’s young – helping to quell concerns about McCain’s age. She’s a woman – attractive to discontented Hillary supporters. She’s conservative and pro-life, helping to attract the evangelical crowd. She’s a Washington outsider, bolstering the Republican ticket’s ability to bring a message of change. This is, quite simply, a bold and daring choice. And it makes one wonder if the Republicans may overrun the Democrats and serve up the first female presidential candidate. Actually, the strongest female leaders in Europe – Margaret Thatcher and Angela Merkel – have been conservatives. Could it be that a woman has to be a conservative to be seen as “tough” enough to become a leader? Liberal woman may be perceived as “softer” and can’t convince people that they have the stamina to be world leaders.

Of course, that’s speculation. Right now I’m afraid McCain has won this round. Obama’s choice of Joe Biden as his running mate pales in comparison. Biden is a good guy, but he’s a safe choice. He complements Obama on foreign policy, connection with working class voters, age, and experience. But he doesn’t make the ticket more dynamic. Perhaps the Democrats figured that Obama can carry the excitement all by himself and needed somebody to ground him. But people don’t want to be grounded; they want to be lifted up to a higher vision. This one is a score for the Republicans, and they are darned smart to announce it the day after Obama’s historic acceptance speech. I was working on a blog entry about Obama’s nomination, but now that seems old and stale. If it has that kind of effect on my little blog, imagine what it does to the big media machine. But fortunately things move fast in politics, and a lot can happen before Election Day. The excitement will wear off and other issues will become more important.

And while McCain's choice is smart, it's also a gamble that's sure to put off some Republican voters. It's interesting how both Obama and McCain chose running mates that undercut some of their core arguments. Obama talks about bringing change to Washington, yet chooses a VP who has worked in Washington politics all his life. McCain's hammers Obama for lack of experience, yet chooses a running mate who is even younger and less experienced. It will be interesting to see how that all plays out once the excitement settles down and the debates begin.

And we should all remember that we are not voting for a black candidate, a female candidate, or a war hero candidate. We are voting for the person who is best suited to be the leader of the most powerful country in the world. McCain’s many years of service and experience apparently have not brought him insight and wisdom when it comes to world affairs. And that’s an area where Sarah Palin can’t help him. In contrast, Obama’s speech yesterday demonstrated, once again, that he has the insight, the intelligence, and the judgment to make decisions that are in the best interest of the United States and the World.