Tuesday, October 28, 2008

Gamma Boy Owns Yo Gabba Gabba

Actually, I don't, but since you called me out, I figured I'd better headline my post with equal and opposite vigor.

As for Palin, when it comes to voting, I just don't put much value in the VP position. In fact, I am always a bit surprised that people get as excited about VP picks as they do.

Take Gore/Lieberman, for example. I like Joe Lieberman and thought he would have been a fine president, but I wasn't a fan of Gore, and I never would have voted for Gore regardless of his VP. But I admit there is a difference between voting for a ticket because of the VP and not voting for a ticket because of the VP. A great VP alone shouldn't attract a reasonable voter to support a poor presidential candidate, but perhaps a reasonable voter should hesitate to support a presidential candidate if the VP is particularly weak.

Even if that's the case, I don't find Palin that repulsive. Sure she's a bit of a hick, but she is also the most popular governor in America, an independent thinker who has shown a rare willingness among politicians to battle her own party, and the rare person who actually has bona fide leadership capabilities (Biden, for example, has much more experience and knowledge, but I think his innate leadership abilities pale in comparison to Palin's).

Is she ready to be president? Hell, no. But she's not running for president. Most likely, her first term will be a collage of winning photo-ops, which until Cheney's advent, was the primary responsibility of VPs. That scenario, of course, requires me to hope that McCain can keep his ticker a-tocking long enough for her to at least get a basic level of knowledge necessary to complement her leadership instincts.

One other thing that bothers me about the abuse Palin has received. I think there is an enormous amount of condescension from people on the coasts for anyone who has not come up through the "proper" schools and who does not live the "proper" lifestyle. You can hear the snickers as people mention her checkered college education, her affinity for hunting, and her husband's sports.

I've heard plenty of cocktail snark about Palin, but my personal experience is that there is almost no correlation between actual leadership ability and the quality of one's schools and upbringing. If anything, I think there is a negative correlation. Most of our politicians have blue blood pedigrees, most of our Wall Street leaders have terrific resumes, and most of our journalists have come up through traditional channels. Thank God we have such sterling individuals leading our government, our banks, and our media. Without their brilliance these institutions might be dysfunctional.

Palin is very rough around the edges, but she is a natural leader. I wouldn't support her for president, but she isn't weak enough to disqualify my voting for the ticket. As Biden will have virtually no effect on my thoughts on voting for Obama, Palin has no effect on my consideration of McCain.

Yo Gabba Gabba, you got served!

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