It's Not Easy Being Green
September 15, 2008
Within milliseconds of the announcement of John McCain's
base-energizing selection of Alaska Governor Sarah Palin as his Vice-Presidential
running mate, Democrats were playing the experience card in their hasty
and ill-advised criticism of the political newcomer. Ignoring the fact
that their own candidate has no presidential credentials whatsoever, they
attacked Palin for being too "green."
Dems, whistling past the graveyard, have continued since
then to assert that the choice of newcomer Palin "takes the experience
issue off the table." As we might expect, when they make their case
about Palin's lack of experience, the doomsayers on the left necessarily
bring up the likelihood of McCain's falling ill or dying in office. After
all, he is 72 years old, and, as they assert, "actuarially speaking"
there's a good likelihood that he'll not survive to the end of his first
term.
Forget, for a minute, that the Democrats, in addition
to playing the experience card, are also playing the age card with gallows
humor worthy of an 18th century cake-eating French executioner. The problem
with their logic is that Democrats have an experienced president only
if Barack Obama becomes gravely ill or dies in office.
The question becomes, "Which would Americans rather have, a President
who's devoted his brief interlude in the Senate to helping Nancy Pelosi
and company make sure that meaningful legislative activity grinds to a
halt, or a Vice President who's spent the last several years as a local
and state chief executive fighting corruption and reining in 'big oil'
by returning money to the people of her state via a $1,200.00 rebate generated
through a graduated tax increase on the oil companies?"
While Obama cowered behind the relative anonymity that
being one of a hundred U.S. Senators provides as he amassed the most liberal
voting record in that legislative body, Palin was out front, fighting
corruption at the highest level in Alaska politics, bringing down the
state chairman of her own Republican Party on ethics charges. Even though
she's running for Vice President while Obama is running for the presidency,
Palin's executive credentials arguably make her more suited than Obama
to assume the highest office in the land.
It took the King of Parse, Bill Clinton, to finally find
a way to make the Democratic candidate's inexperience appear to be a positive.
In his Convention Speech last week, Clinton, applauding himself as usual,
pointed out that he was criticized for exactly that reason during the
1992 campaign, but that he went on to have a "successful" run
as Commander-In-Chief nonetheless. Of course, that depends on what the
meaning of "success" is.
In the left's rush to spinment after Palin's being named
to the ticket on Friday, one MSNBC commentator allowed as though Palin
would be a viable candidate until, and I quote, "Biden eviscerates
her in the Vice Presidential debate." She followed that up with,
"I haven't heard Palin speak, but I think that could happen."
We'll see about that, to be sure. Perhaps the commentator
should have waited until after Palin's acceptance speech before she offered
her assessment, given that Palin's performance elicited this from Democrat
Camille Paglia: "That was the best political speech I have ever seen
delivered by an American woman politician. Palin is tough as nails."
One gets the sense that someone with Palin's strength of character, one
who's confronted and brought to heel people from her own political party
and the most powerful industry in the world, is not exactly quaking in
her mukluks at the thought of debating Joe Biden.
It's interesting that the issue of color should come down,
not to black and white, but to green. While the Obama campaign, and even
Obama himself, claim to be color-blind, exactly the opposite is the case,
and the selection of Sarah Palin is likely to result in Obama's having
to reveal his true colors. Obama's associations with the likes of leftist
terrorists Bill Ayers and the Reverend Jeremiah Wright have already demonstrated
his Marxist leanings; the selection of Palin insures that to the Democratic
candidate's well established credentials as a "red" will be
added confirmation that he is indeed too green to become our President.
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