I've been watching all the media hoopla and have seen interviews with Sarah Palin and of course the vice-presidential debate. At first I thought she came off as a good choice; she is a good speaker and has a good track record. Then I was swayed by the media and thought she was a totally clueless bimbo who didn't have what it takes to be a president if John McCain died in office.
But lately, I've been thinking about the interviews, the clips that are continuously played for us, and I don't think she's been given a fair shake. Take the interviews with Katie Couric and Charles Gibson. Unless she was given a list of the questions they asked beforehand, and it's quite obvious she wasn't, they already had the advantage. And I wonder if either Couric or Gibson would have known the answers to some of their own questions if they (or someone on their staff) had not researched them and had the answers. And why aren't they asking Obama these sneaky questions?
When Couric asked Palin what magazines she read, I do wish Palin had been honest and said she was traveling all over America memorizing speeches, meeting people, and didn't have time to read magazines; but that she had people who read them and briefed her on the important issues. Instead, she went into politicalease nonsense and looked ill-prepared and unqualified. And as far as the Bush Doctrine question Gibson asked her, I imagine the majority of average Americans had no idea what he was talking about either. She just made it worse by trying to talk around it. It was obvious that Gibson was trying to make her look bad and I'm disappointed in that. I used to respect him. After doing a little research, I have found that there isn't just one Bush Doctrine.
Another thing that was brought up is that she was for the bridge to nowhere when she was campaigning for governor, but when she found that most people were against it, she changed her tune and campaigned vigorously against it. Maybe I'm just an insignificant little housewife, but it seems to me that that is exactly what we want our leaders to do - listen to us and then push for our demands.
I think Palin's biggest handicap is talking too much. She does beat around the bush quite a bit, but then, so does Obama. He just does it in such an intense way that he comes across as believable. She is more like those high school girls who don't know the answer to an essay question, so they write two pages of nothing in their gigantic cursive loops hoping they might accidently hit on the answer.
And that brings up another thought. It seems to be an election between Obama and Palin instead of Obama and McCain. No one can deny that McCain is qualified for the job, and there isn't enough dirt on him to make good copy, so the media wants the public to decide between Obama and Palin.
Poor Joe Biden is getting left out of the spotlight altogether. He got more media attention after being introduced as John McCain than for anything else. Joe the Plumber has gotten more media time, and look what the media did to that poor guy. He may have to work at McDonald's after his 15 minutes of fame.
Joe Biden is probably more qualified to be president than Barack Obama, he just doesn't have Obama's charisma. Unfortunately, McCain also lacks charisma, which is probably one of the reasons he chose Palin as his running mate. It's too bad McCain didn't pick Biden as his running mate. Their campaign would be as boring as warm milk, but both solid and competent.
We are continually told that McCain's age is his biggest handicap. He is 72 years old, and has had a couple of skin lesions diagnosed as melanoma which were removed and have not recurred. Not enough reason to think he is going to drop dead during his term. Ronald Reagan was 69 when he first took office and 73 for his second term and I don't recall that his age was such a big issue.
No matter what policy changes a candidate has in his platform, he still has to get them passed through both House and Senate before they become law, so it is unlikely that anything extreme will get through. Because of that, I'm trying not to focus on the things the candidate wants to change, but on what kind of decisions the candidate will make in a crisis. Obama seems to be cool under pressure, and hopefully will surround himself with good advisers. McCain is already experienced in war and a depressed economy, and hopefully will have learned from that as well as selecting good advisers.
Morally, I don't like either McCain or Obama. So the question for me is do I go with experience or charisma? Or does it even matter?
Until next time, may you have blessings and discernment,
Marti
Marti's DIY and Life in General
