Dahlia Lithwick, writing in Slate, said
It’s easy to look at the soon-to-be-former governor of Alaska as an iconic feminist, a path-breaking working mother, or noble rabble-rousing populist. But when the dust settles, the lesson may be that she was simply a woman who made no sense.
Sometimes a cigar is just a cigar. Sometimes, the emperor has no clothes. Sometimes, there’s nothing behind the curtain of words.
When I listen to Sarah Palin talk, I’m reminded of that scene from Rush Hour “Do you understand the words that are coming out of my mouth?”
I’m pretty sure I speak English. It is, after all, my native language. So I recognize and understand each and every word that comes out of Sarah Palin’s mouth. I just can’t figure out how they go together. Her basketball analogy left me blank (Ok, like Anderson Cooper, I don’t get basketball). She threw the ball to someone else, who will now carry on in her place, so she can leave the court and accomplish more from the sidelines? If she thinks the sidelines are where the action is, why did she run for governor in the first place?
I’ve always been confused by her. What was she doing on the national political stage? What had she to offer, other than youthful looks, to McCain? And, having done such a poor job in that forum, why doesn’t she realize it?
It’s an old truism that we get the government and the politicians that we deserve. Perhaps. But, while that’s clever and descriptive, it’s not very prescriptive.
I think something about our political systems discourages the ordinary person from running, or at least from getting very far in political office. That leaves the field to exceptional people. Sometimes exceptionally good, but often (too often, it seems) exceptional in some not-very-positive ways. What is it about political office that does this?
And how do we change it?
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I’ve decided to quote other author at times when they say things better than I could say them. I’ll do it under the category “Said better than I could have”.