the joys of simplicity

This week has been about Governor Sarah Palin. Of course it has, in the way that it would have been about anybody just recently chosen as vice presidential nominee. This should supposedly apply to both parties, but has applied more to her in this particular case. Americans love suprises, although it may be more appropriate to say that we like twists. Considering that we do not vote for vice-presidential nominees, we are only granted a threadbare sense of prescience concerning who is decided upon, and the more threadbare the prescience, the more room for either party to thicken the element of suspense.

It was supposed that (considering the dire importance of this election) both Obama and McCain would not meddle with the more manipulable sensibilities of the American voter. Either presidential nominee was well within their right to choose from the many qualified, but I had thought that it was understood that the urgency of this election had disqualified any left field inclusions.

Perhaps the choice of Biden could be seen as a reaction to the McCain campaign’s claims of Obama’s lack of experience. For him to have chosen as fresh a face as his would have further solidified this. Yet Biden, in spite of his long history in politics, seems a logical choice, an apparently decent man, with only one useful scandal to his name.

But, what is most important is not the fact that he is an apparently decent man. There are plenty of people that lose their wives and children in car wrecks, there are plenty of fathers of four (now three in his case) that commute to work. These details are reference to character, but his qualifications are well-pronounced and (after the Republican National Convention) indisputed thus far. I don’t remember any of them going after Biden. Perhaps Obama was such fair game that it was all they needed. I have doubts.

Wait, I take that back, Huckabee referred to Biden. Aside from linking it, I’ll just paste it out:

—————————————–

(from factcheck.org)

Too Good to Check?

The biggest whopper of the night may have come from former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, who charged that Palin “got more votes running for mayor of Wasilla, Alaska, than Joe Biden got running for president of the United States.” It may sound like a great line, but it’s not true – not even close. Palin garnered 651 votes in 1996 and 909 votes in 1999 in her two races for mayor of Wasilla, according to the city. Biden, despite withdrawing from the race after the Iowa caucus, got 79,754 votes in the Democratic primaries.

—————————————-

As far as Biden’s qualifications for the vice-presidency, those things can easily be found online, and his accomplishments aren’t quite flexible enough to misconstrue. Although, much like Obama’s lifelong achievements, critics are so desperate at this point to find scandal that they’re reduced to bastardizing virtues. In Biden’s case, it is important to recognize his past plagiarism controversy. This is something that is as important as we make it, something too flexible to determine his worth. Yet it is enough to affect the national view of his character, if used.

Obama has made a good choice. It was a complementary choice, a logical choice, and it represents the ambition of a campaign that acts according to its own certainty and operates with method as opposed to strategy. Not according to the desires of the Democratic party, but in the best interest of our nation. After the Republican National Convention, the Obama/Biden ticket is arguably as bipartisan and independent as a person could be likely to vote for. This argument had only been formidable beforehand, imposing as of now.

McCain’s somewhat random, obviously reactionary appointment of Sarah Palin is simple. It is a mistake to confuse ‘simple’ with such things as basic or practical. While his campaign has set ultimatums in terms of whom she will speak with and under what circumstances, her purpose will remain obscure. It is insulting that someone of such fearlessness could be kept apart from the press due to their lack of sensitivity.

Considering her maverick reputation, box fresh, it seems awkward that she would need a promise from the press to not be mean to her.

But her holding out on interviews is strategically wise, tried and true. If you had watched the Republican National Convention, the most intelligent thing that they had done had been to dismiss the media. They had dismissed them as being biased (simple presupposition). The Democrats had not done this.

Manipulable sensibilities. Left field inclusions. These are the joys of simplicity.

Her holding back on interviews, holding back on specific confrontation, is testament to their approach. I’m watching her give a speech in Riverside, Ohio as I write this. At the convention, she and they had made as strong and as critical of statements as the Democrats had made, and both sides had stretched the truth at times (both may argue their understanding or recollection of it soon enough), but the Republicans, namely Giuliani and Palin, had been unnecessarily full of condescension and ire, and had delivered far more damning half-truths.

But, the brilliant strategy on their part was their nullification of the press. Both sides were inclined to run their mouths, but it was the Republicans that had manifested media distrust, therefore isolating the newly converted. The barely converted will also do. The committed would be for anything, the newly converted are what must be sanctioned. So, discredit the press, and then make negative generalizations (and lies, if you must), and simultaneously…

Exemplify your simple life. Many of the people watching (of either party) don’t know how the more complicated things work (things that vice-presidents should know, for instance), and it isn’t too shocking that most Americans don’t care. Regardless, people win elections with most Americans, and therefore winning them is dependent on what Palin’s nomination has just previously reinstated: character and the culture wars.

Sarah Palin is a mother of five. She is a member of the NRA and the PTA. Her husband is a snowmachine racing champion, four years in a row. She enjoys a good mooseburger. Things such as these, although intriguing, consist of a bulk of her identity, lately.

Holding her back from the press is more than adequate. The more time that she spends away from them, the better. This allows time for her to soak and settle in. Her most literal of statements can stay severe, free of scrutiny (discredited media). Her inadequacies can be set aside in the meantime, granting enough time to admire her spirit.

The uproar is her energy, and they are willing drag it out as long as possible, because the essence of her nomination is to motivate simple people. But, what are simple people? They are not stupid, nor are they uneducated. They are merely too occupied with their daily lives as mothers or husbands to recognize the relationship between a pack lunch and the U.N.

You see, what you do is allow it to ruminate, allow viewers to see only her most domestic and rudimentary characteristics and create a barrier against the people that opinionate beyond her own words and presentation (much of which is already cumbersome and obscure). Allow these viewers enough time to apply their simple life (their simplicity) to hers. A majority of people don’t understand “what Fannie and Freddie do”, and she doesn’t seem to, either. But, that makes her all the more endearing.

Why? Because of how easy it is to digest, how much comfort it gives a person to know that they can go back to what they were doing and stop worrying about all of that nonsense that far more qualified people will take care of (the irony of the term “elitism”). The joy of simplicity is that it allows people that would rather not consider these frightful difficulties and alien painful realities the comfort of settling within the residual. PTA, mother of five, juggling a family budget, no nonsense, gals like us. It would be best if she could just avoid interviews or perhaps even speeches until the end of October. This has already been an attempt to catch people off guard. Such a delay would further grant the people even less time to make sense of it, and who needs sense? Who needs time?

The more frightening thought is that she allows hockey dads (and so forth) the illusion that anyone could do it, that any joe has the ability and worth to affect the daily lives of a nation. This is more than a position of high esteem, this is a breath away from the big red button. To help her win, they have portrayed her as an unlikely lottery story, the ultimate normal. Our prosperity is not dependent on the strength of those running, but the weakness of us.

So, ask us. Are we weak?