There’s a lot I admire about Sarah Palin: Her meteoric rise in a highly-scrutinized, male-dominated profession. Her ability to be smart and tough but also beautiful and feminine. The challenges life has thrown her way and how she has handled them. My friend Andy, a republican insider on Capitol Hill, says the party has had its eye on her for years. A true rising star. She is "feisty, with grace,” as a republican delegate recently put it.
Sure, I find it pretty easy to be excited about all of that.
And, then there’s a lot I don't like about her. Her belief that creationism should be taught in public schools. Her desire to drill for more oil and build nuclear power plants instead of insisting on clean and safe sources of energy. Her belief that government should be able to tell women what they can and cannot do with their bodies. There’s a lot of policy to disagree about, but these disagreements are par for the course in a republican versus democratic race.
This race isn’t going to come down to any of that.
No, this race is going to be about personality and character. And it's now abundantly clear that Sarah Palin has a lot of both. The question is whether she’s got the kind of personality and character befitting a person holding the second-highest office in the land.
Or whether hers is conduct unbecoming.
During her acceptance speech I expected to hear the kind of content conservatives salivate over, just as the DNC speeches dripped with the content democrats crave. So I wasn’t surprised by the topics. Still, I heard some things that made my stomach churn.
I heard her ridicule Obama’s community organizing experience. Of course we democrats know that community organizing is what you do when government is failing to meet the needs of the people. Martin Luther King was a community organizer. So was Jesus Christ. Maybe she does not understand what that work is all about. But did she have to ridicule it?
What was with the tone she took? The attitude? I was instantly reminded of the swaggering cowboy we currently have in the Oval Office who makes clear that he thinks anyone who disagrees with him is like an animal in his personal rodeo. After hearing Sarah Palin speak, it is easy to imagine her as the new cowboy in town, with the leather chaps, metal spurs and lasso, kicking ass and taking names. This is who we want representing us in the world?
The world is so tired of an America that behaves that way.
And so am I.
We need a president who respects people – all people – who doesn’t think we are better than everybody else, and better yet who understands that while we are but a tiny fraction of the planet’s population we have a great obligation to help lift up those around the world who are enduring tragedy and hardship. We need a president who will make America America again, both around the world and right here at home. It is hard to imagine that a woman who is called a "barracuda" because of how she treats people would be one of our nation's highest leaders. It is hard to imagine a woman who had no need for a passport in the first 43 years of her life being able to be an ambassador for America around the world. It is hard to imagine such a woman being a heartbeat away from the presidency.
I am a democrat. I believe government should actively safeguard a basic quality of life for all citizens. I believe our leaders must believe in science, in global warming being greatly compounded by human behavior, in a woman’s right to choose. But even more than these things, I want the highest leaders in the land to respect people. The kick ass attitude Sarah Palin showed in her acceptance speech may be what it takes to get things done in Alaska, but in my view it is conduct unbecoming the next Vice President of the United States.
Yee haw.
