WATCHING the vice presidential debate last Thursday, it seemed obvious to me who delivered the more impressive performance.
Joe Biden was articulate, confident, and well-informed; he delivered every answer straightforwardly and without hesitation. Sarah Palin stumbled over her words, made frequent use of filler phrases like “as I’ve said before” and folksy sayings like “you betcha,” and at times left questions completely unanswered. Yet, making the rounds on Time, Newsweek and CNN the next day, it seemed like everybody was praising Palin’s performance. And sadly, the praise essentially consisted of: “Good job, Sarah — you didn’t screw up quite as bad as we all thought you would.” The bar was set so low for Palin that even her jumbled, frequently incoherent performance exceeded expectations.
“Polls indicated [Palin] didn’t win — but the absence of gaffes meant she didn’t lose either,” wrote the Associated Press in an article from October 3rd. What? Shouldn’t the criteria for succeeding in a debate for one of the most important offices in the world be slightly more stringent that just managing not to look like a complete idiot? It’s not a victory, or even a draw, just because she got through the debate without making any serious mistakes. That should be a given. A candidate for the vice presidency should be eloquent, clear, and always up to date on current events around the world. Palin is none of these things.
What Palin, is, however, is a just a regular woman — a weakness that the GOP is marketing as a strength. “Palin is on the ticket because she connects with everyday Americans,” an anonymous McCain advisor told Newsweek. This message is resonating with the red states, who see Sarah Palin as one of their own, somebody they can relate to. They like her winks and shrugs, her use of charming colloquialisms, they even like that she doesn’t seem to know much more about politics than they do.
Palin herself, when asked about the sometimes downright hostile reaction to her candidacy, told a radio host: “I think they’re just not used to someone coming in from the outside saying, ‘You know what? It’s time that normal Joe Six-Pack American is finally represented in the position of vice presidency.’”
No it isn’t. There’s a reason Joe Six-Pack isn’t the President, or even Vice President, of the United States of America: Joe Six-Pack isn’t qualified for the position. The presidency of this nation is arguably the most important and most powerful job in the world, and the Vice President is just one wrong bite of a pretzel away from being required to step into that office. How has that suddenly become a position that any schmuck off the street is ready to fill? Somehow, it’s become a liability to be too articulate, too smart, too well-informed. Some people have criticized Obama for his high-falutin’ language and Harvard education, calling him an elitist who can’t understand everyday folks. Sarah Palin understands us, they say. Sarah Palin isn’t any smarter, or richer, or more informed than we are; she’s just like us.
Elite — that’s an insult now. To be elite is to be the best; when did it become a bad thing to be the best? We want elite doctors to heal us, elite lawyers to defend us, elite athletes to represent us, but not elite leaders to govern us? This is a phenomenon that we just don’t observe in any other field. You wouldn’t want the pilot of your international flight to be just an average dude; you’d want him to have the highest possible level of training for the job. You’d want only the best, most reliable, most qualified contractor to remodel your home. You wouldn’t want Joe Six-Pack performing your brain surgery, so why would you want him (or her) heading your country?
When did mediocrity become a virtue? When did being average trump being extraordinary? Sarah Palin is the lowest common denominator. “She’s an ordinary person,” her supporters say, “and that’s why I’m voting for her.” They love her ignorance, they revel in her unawareness. They don’t care that she has almost no education relevant to the challenges a McCain-Palin administration would face. They don’t care that she knows almost nothing about Middle Eastern history, doesn’t understand the economy, and has trouble naming a single Supreme Court case except Roe v. Wade. Somehow, the fact that she’s totally unqualified has become a virtue because we, as a nation, have come to shun excellence in our politicians. It’s become more important to be relatable than to be qualified.
There’s no doubt Sarah Palin is an ordinary person, a woman who’s a member of the sizeable demographic of conservative moms in the United States. Her folksy charm and down-to-earth attitude are endearing to many, but being a regular Jane doesn’t make Sarah Palin a good choice for higher office. As with the top dogs in any other field, the commander-in-chief should be the best of the best, the most qualified, the smartest, the most informed, the one with most intelligent ideas — and that just isn’t Palin.
Michelle Lamont is a Cavalier Daily Viewpoint Writer.
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