Come again? Why did you watch it?
Kathy here. I've never contributed before to this deep-political-thoughts blog before. I feel like one of those guest anchors on the Daily Show: today I'll call myself the Senior Women's Analyst.
Did you watch the VP debate last night? Delightful. Better than expected. I'm glad I tuned in. But I worried when I indulged in a little bit of the commentary afterward. One analyst expressed how glad she was that her daughters and granddaughters could finally see tonight that a woman could go toe to toe with a man in the political arena and hold her own. Sure. That's great. But I have two questions:
1.) Where was she when Hillary ran? Nobody seemed surprised that Hillary Clinton could hold her own against the big boys. As much as I just don't like Hillary, I have to admire her strength.
2.) More importantly, was that really the question at issue? If we only watched to see if a woman could compete, we not only missed the point, but we missed the opportunity to notice so much more. Sure, Sarah Palin survived. Sure, her hair and shoes looked AWESOME. And sure, she spoke forcefully, with conviction and that cute golly-darn accent. But did we listen to what she said!? Did her agreement with Cheney concern us? Did any of her round-about-throwing-out-random-catchphrase answers make us wonder what on Earth she was thinking? Did we pay attention enough to recognize that rhetorically, Biden blew her out of the water?
In the end, I truly believe it shouldn't come down to gender.
Would I like a woman in the White House? Yes: a competent woman.
Would I like a man in the White House? The answer is also yes: a competent man. It should not come down to man/woman; it should come down to ability and integrity. I believe in women. They are strong and talented and insightful creatures; I am one.
But I don't believe that Sarah Palin would be the White House's best number 2. Woman or not.
amen!
ReplyDeleteWhen Ifill asked: "can you think of a single issue, policy issue, in which you were forced to change a long-held view?"
ReplyDeletePalin said: "no, there hasn't been something that I've had to compromise on."
This disturbed me because she has the attitude that she's never been wrong. Like Bush, she claims the moral high ground, and yet will continue with Dick Cheney's policy of trouncing the constitution in order to grasp power. She does not recognize evil when she sees it.
Like a lot of self-righteous people, she simplifies evil as a problem others have, most notably for those who do-it-in-the-butt and those who have abortions, but she fails to recognize it in herself.
Woman, yes. But she's more of the same.
I completely Agree!!!!!!!!
ReplyDelete