So John McCain just announced Palin as his running mate, in a room packed with pasty blandly dressed white middle class men (and women) – average collective IQ of 50 – to rousing cheers of “USA, USA, USA”.
I wish I could understand why people would care solely about military service and joining the army – which topics covered most of the speech given by Palin just now. Rather than focus on actual issues, once again it’s a case of milking that military ticket for all it’s worth. And the neanderthals in the audience seemed to love it…so good for them. Because that’s really going to make a difference to the economy, poor state of education in this country, lack of quality healthcare for the poor…oh wait, they don’t care. They don’t get it, every bit as much as McCain doesn’t get it himself. And Palin is but a poor shill.
Contrast McCain and Palin with the powerful speech given by Obama last night. There’s a smart guy. A loving family man who “gets it” and has more than a one-trick military pony up his sleeve. Sure, it’d be good for his electoral chances if he’d happened to have been in the military, but in the real world elected officials also need to be in touch with the electorate and deal with real world issues – something that’s hard to do if you can’t even remember how many houses you own today. I recorded Obama’s speech (and Gore’s) and then re-watched both many times over. I don’t think I’ve ever felt so convinced that one man could change the US for the better.
Obama almost brought a tear to my eye last night. If he actually pulls it off in November, I think I’ll be on cloud nine until January.
Jon.