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Friday, October 3. 2008
Low Expectations
Well, I have to admit, Governor Palin didn’t come off as the same dimwit she has been in past interviews with journalists. She actually held her own with Senator Biden and I was impressed with her strong confidence. Sean Hannity doesn’t count, he’s a commentator with an agenda, that, if you watch that “interview,” was to lob softballs to Palin so she could spout her talking point attacks at Obama and Biden.
That being said, her answers were mainly the rehearsed lines given to her from the campaign, but she delivered them well. She channeled Ronald Reagan with, “There you go again” and brought up the moments from the past when Senator Biden differed with Senator Obama on a couple issues.
Yes, Palin exceeded expectations, but the expectations were so low, it was hard not to meet them. Granted, many, including me, thought she would be a complete embarrassment — she wasn’t — but surpassing that mark, not being an embarrassment, is no qualification to be vice president, let alone president. As one columnist (Mary McNamara, L.A. Times) suggested, if the bar of success for Palin had been any lower, they would have needed to bury it.
Palin’s strategy for the debate: be folksy, wink at the men watching — how many times did she wink into the camera? Let’s hook up later baby and do some serious “winking” — and avoid answering questions she is unprepared to answer. “I may not answer the questions the way you or the moderator may want me to,” she said. “But I am going to talk straight to the American people.”
Well Sarah, I appreciate the dialogue, but what specifically is your ticket’s plan for the future, concerning the economy, Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iran — foreign policy and national security in general?
On several occasions Palin accused Biden of looking back on the past eight years, instead of looking forward. The reason of course, Biden spent the night tying McCain’s policies to those of President Bush — without question the most disastrous presidency in our nation’s history.If I’m the Republican vice presidential candidate, I’m going to spend the night avoiding any response to that and Palin succeeded there most of the debate. The only times she directly addressed the administration of George W. Bush was to admit that there were many mistakes made by the current administration;
Palin’s exact words: “There have been huge blunders in the war. There have been huge blunders throughout this administration …”
Governor Palin also spoke of Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice trying to get the Middle East Peace Process back on track.Palin didn’t quite mention the inaction for the first six years of the Bush Administration in regards to the Middle East Peace Plan, but Senator Biden reminded everyone of how the Bush Administration had ignored it — set it back even with Bush’s war in Iraq.
The game plan of the Republicans for at least the past 18 months has been, A) separate their candidates from President Bush, and B) avoid any reference to them being Republicans. That became quite apparent when, after the Republican National Convention, we realized none of the featured speakers uttered the name of George Bush or referred to his administration — and you recall, the Republican President didn’t even get a featured time slot to speak and wasn’t even allowed to attend the convention — and the Republican speakers (and the one non-Republican speaker) at that convention never mentioned their own party by name or even identified themselves as Republicans.
They, in effect, are campaigning against themselves.
Governor Plain continued that game plan Thursday evening. She couldn’t run away from President Bush fast enough. Except at one point when moderator Gwen Ifil asked both candidates if they agreed with Vice President Cheney’s assertion that the V.P. office was outside the authority of the Executive Branch of government as well as the Legislative and Judicial Branches.
Governor Palin gave a half-assed answer that didn’t address whether she agreed with Cheney or not and Senator Biden quite pointedly — and correctly — pointed out the section and paragraph in the Constitution that specifically puts the office of Vice President in the Executive Branch of government. In essence, Dick Cheney is wrong.
And of course, when the questions got tough for Palin, she reverted to her record of taking on “Big Oil” as governor of Alaska. When the question was about health care, Palin’s answer was her record against “Big Oil.” When the question was about the current bailout plan being debated in the House of Representatives, Palin’s answer was about her record against “Big Oil.”
One of Palin’s biggest gaffes, and some would say she had no gaffes — other than calling General McKiernan, the man in charge of the war in Afghanistan, General McClellan — is when she accused Obama and Biden of raising “the white flag of surrender” when Biden brought up Obama’s 16-month plan for ending Bush’s war in Iraq. It’s a gaffe because that is precisely the plan the Bush Administration is negotiating with the Iraqi government. So, President Bush is raising the white flag of surrender?
Palin had no response to that fact. Other ironies: As stated earlier, Palin accused Obama and Biden of pointing fingers backward instead of to the future … all the while relying on Senator McCain’s past for the questions she did answer. You can’t have it both ways governor.
One could go on for pages and pages analyzing this debate. Most agree both Senator Biden and Governor Palin did a good job. Biden didn’t get verbose or fly off into a gaffe-filled tangent, and Governor Plain didn’t embarrass herself or her party’s presidential ticket.
One thing I do take issue with is the moderator Gwen Ifil. She rarely asked follow up questions of either candidate and that really was to Governor Palin’s advantage. Had Ifil been more like Katie Couric, or even Jim Lehrer in the first debate between Senators Obama and McCain, it may have exposed Palin’s deficiencies when it comes to knowledge of the important issues. In that respect, the Republicans have succeeded. Anyone asking Sarah Palin tough questions has been labeled a bully, or condescending, or, god forbid, sexist.
Did Governor Sarah Palin exceed expectations? Yes. But were those expectations what we should set for a presidential or vice presidential candidate? Sadly, that seems to be the case.Makes me somewhat depressed about our dabate. My Canadian friend Witchy told me their prime minister debate, also held on Thursday, almost had a hockey brawl. Man! That must have been entertaining!
One last note: A few days ago I felt sorry for Governor Palin. Not anymore.
All photos by Reuters
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