Palin, Obama & Not quite pulled together yet

I know it must seem like I’m being lazy and not attending to my work over here; it’s not that. I just can’t seem to settle in and focus on much.

The news feels like it’s all coming in too fast to process, the congress is passing mammoth bills it can’t be bothered to read. As the deficit tops ONE TRILLION DOLLARS for the first time, ever, the president is standing at ship’s helm, a deep gouge in his hull, and blocking our views while saying “everything is mostly great; things are working exactly as they should.” Aware that his ship is in trouble, he tries to distract the masses with the reliable old, “look at Bush!; see how bad Bush was!” schtick.

Meanwhile, Obama has a million little seemingly mad czars behind him busily deciding which of us will get lifeboats, which will get Flotation Devices and which will simply be privileged to go down into the drink for the sake of the collective, because he seems unwilling to try to turn things around.

My email is becoming a daily and disheartening challenge. The hate mail is easily disposed of, but increasingly it seems I have friends who believe that they should send me links to literally everything they are reading – and some of it is good, but I can’t keep up; it feels like every day I am a bit more submerged in email, and it’s going to drown me. Today I did one of those purges that I always regret, but sometimes must do; I went through the email, checking off nearly every box, and just deleted the lot of it.

I hope that’s not rude, and I did try to respond to those emails that seemed to need a response, but I just couldn’t take another “This Travesty Shall Not Stand!” email or another “Sarah Palin is God’s Gift to America” link. I’ve decided we simply cannot have it both ways: America cannot be both “facing the wrath of God” for its sins while also being “blessed with Sarah Palin.” Either we’re in deep doo-doo or we’re being blessed, but I don’t think we’re being both simultaneously – and if you think America is “due” for a chastisement, well then expect the chastisement to be a lot worse than what we’re currently living with before any “blessings” begin.

In other words, if there is gonna be wrath, it’s not going to be pulled back in mid-chastisement. Not even by Sarah Palin!

Look, I think Ms. Palin has many good and admirable qualities; her story is frankly one the Democrats would love to have, and I suspect part of their hatred of her is because she is a great narrative with a bad letter (R) after her name. I also concur that she has been abominably abused by the misbegotten Fourth Estate (some of whom do indeed deserve this drubbing) and the chattering classes. Because Palin has been so vilified, I tend to give her some leeway, if for no other reason than to balance out the hate.

But, let’s keep some perspective on Palin, shall we? Yes, lots to admire, yes, great on energy, yes, she gives voice to many Americans who are feeling plenty dissed and disenchanted, just now. Yes, she’s got charisma, yes, she’s going to make the left’s heads explode. But…she’s only a woman.

I am becoming very leery of the Cult of Sarah that seems to be springing up. It may not have the troubling messianic overtones of “greater than god” and “more Catholic than the pope!” Obamamania (and unlike Obama, I doubt she’d encourage that) but there is still a vibe to the Sarah-Celebrating that feels a little desperate and clinging, and not wholly healthy.

I know people are protective of her – as I implied, I am too a little, because of how she’s been treated – but when I see people refer to a politician as “my Sarah,” and “our Sarah,” I get concerned. Supporting politicians should not preclude recognizing their weaknesses. Even I – an infamous “Bushbot” – could admit that he was an awful communicator, that his WH was even worse, that he did a dreadful job of telling the country why we were in Iraq, to begin with, and that he needed to make some serious personnel and direction changes ‘way before 2006. Sarah-supporters who cannot admit – at the minimum – that she needs a good speech-writer and some first-class advisers and handlers if she is to make progress, should consider that we don’t help our pols, or our country, when we give them passes on everything, either because he makes us “feel good” about electing him or she makes us “feel represented” in the public square.

Ronald Reagan’s current hagiography may give the impression that the right loved him with unquestioning ardor, but the reality is he too endured some criticism from his own side, even from the far-right and that was probably a good, and healthy thing. It’s one thing to have an ideology – it’s another thing entirely when our ideologies become our idols:

If we are determined to shut out whole blocks of people because their thoughts are not ours, their ideas are not ours, their beliefs are not ours, then we’re doing democracy wrong – we’re turning it into something else. And I don’t think the “something else” is necessarily a good thing.

Barack Obama was quite wrong to allow Nancy Pelosi to literally lock the GOP out of the writing of the “stimulus” package – it must be said she (and Obama) also locked out a Blue Dog Democrat who had good ideas, in pursuit of a policy that was ideologically “pure” from the far-left’s perspective.

Related:
The Big CIA “secret” that we all knew in 2002 and more related here. Plus, how much damage did the NY Times do, while it worked to screw the Bush administration?
Obama’s Abortion Administration
Did Ruth Bader Ginsberg let the Abortion/Eugenics cat out of the bag?
Americorps: Still stonewalling on the firing of Inspector General. That’s an abuse of power story the press is ignoring. When Bush fired 8 US Attorney’s who served at the pleasure of the president, it was a “scandal” and an “abuse of power.” Obama fires IG’s and does so while breaking a law he helped to write – the press ignores.