Politics

Politics

For those of you who might not remember or know, in a past life I was a part-time small town politician. In five elections I won three, lost two. I always felt that I was better at the governing portion of the job than the campaigning part. I ran three times as an independent, twice as a Republican, and I’ve had the Democrats offer me a slot on their slate of local candidates. I say all this to establish my credentials for the following observations on the current state of presidential politics.

For the first time in my life I can say that both parties put forward their best candidates. There is no lesser of two evils. If anyone says that clique to you, answer honestly that the two gentlemen are both strong candidates, very different in approach, but not really that different in what it takes to be leaders. Secondly, their picks as Vice-presidents make the tickets almost perfect mirror images of one another. No matter which side wins, I believe that this country will be better for the debate between the two – between the four. I would not have predicted such an outcome a year ago at this time.

I love to write fiction. Some of that fiction requires a leap of faith. Dogs and mice talk, beans grow magic fruit and leprechauns and banshees appear, but I do try to make my stories believable – strange as that may seem. There is no way, however, that anyone could write a fiction that would be believable for the facts that now are present. It has been an amazing and unpredictable season. A year ago would you have predicted Obama to beat Hillary? McCain to rise from the ashes? And then to have Sen. Obama, after criticizing Sen. McCain for being in Congress and never getting anything accomplished pick as his running mate someone who’s been in Congress longer? Or how about Sen. McCain castigating his opponent for being inexperienced and then selecting for his campaign someone who very recently was major of a small town in Alaska? (An aside here – I was chairman of the Rockingham County Board of Supervisors. Rockingham County has a population of 54,000. Does that make me 6 times more qualified to be Vice-president as Gov. Palin? I don’t think so – it’s the job you do, not the job you have that counts.)

I watched both Presidential candidates speak at their conventions. It struck me that Mr. Obama was strongest when he spoke of uniting the country and weakest when he attacked Mr. McCain. Mr. McCain was strongest when he told his party what they didn’t want to hear. Being a centrist I’d say that if elected Obama moves to the center or McCain stays in the center, this country will be well served, but that’s my opinion.

But this is my strong opinion: What is a very improbable, implausible political year became a jaw dropping amazement last Weds. night. I remember Ronald Reagan’s Halloween speech in 1964 where he was introduced to the country. It propelled an actor to be President – it took nearly twenty years but it happened. I don’t think Mrs. Palin is going to need that long.

Where in the world did they find her? If you were to cast any current Hollywood actress to play such a National Velvet part, they are all either too lightweight or to old. What impressed me about her, was not what she said for we don’t know what was hers and what was some speechwriters, but how she said it.

Rudi Guliani gave a speech as introduction. The words were powerful and pleasant to the delegates at the hall, but he seemed nervous and uncomfortable. I thought that if he, who has had much experience speaking before crowds and national television couldn’t present himself better than that, this Sarah Palin was going to fall flat.

And you know 80 per cent of the television audience was expecting her to fall. 50 per cent wanted her to, the other half weren’t sure what they wanted, but many of us had low expectations. The crowd in the seats was on her side, and I’m sure that gave her a boost, but understand how difficult the task for her must have been. The weight of the entire campaign was on her shoulders. She HAD to prove her selection was a worthy one. And she had never spoken in a setting like that in her life. Then she stood up there and blew away the crowd. She was articulate, poised and in command. It was almost as if someone had told Rudi to go up there and be nervous so it makes our Veep look better.

The way she stood, the way she looked at ease, and the way she delivered her speech demonstrated a sense of character that just doesn’t come out of nowhere. Although it didn’t make much difference what she said, some of what she did say was really very clever (again was it her or the speechwriter) and some of what she didn’t say was wisely left out. The slightly noticeable Alaskan accent didn’t hurt, either. Whether she and Sen. McCain win this election, I don’t know, but I do know that in a matter of 45 minutes she changed a liability into his best asset and their best chance. I wouldn’t be surprised to see the ratings of the Vice-presidential debate higher than for the McCain/Obama debates.