This election campaign has become a delight. Primarily because one of the candidates is “one of us”.
Now I am not saying this is a reason why anyone should vote one way or another. I am merely saying this “one of us” element has brought a lot of fun to this campaign.
By “one of us” I mean Sarah Palin’s a working mom. She played basketball. She goes huntin’. She was in the PTA. She ran a small business. She got into politics in a tiny town where the mayor know most of the people who wander past city hall this morning. Her spouse works with his hands. Her kids dress and act like the kids down the street.
Palin was a pregnant governor. She flew home from some conference to have the baby.
This is sooooo different for us. These types of folks never run for our top offices.
Oh, big time politicians want us to believe they are just like us. They feel our pain. They assure us they know what it is like to struggle with the home budget and make the mortgage payment. They jabber about raising their kids and talking with the downtrodden.
Sorry, but this does not wash. Most of our top politicians are millionaires. Most send their kids to private schools. Most have servants. Joe Biden talks about seeing the houses of the poor as he travels by train from Washington to Delaware. That’s about as close as he gets to them. Obama worked in poor communities. He did not have to live in the midst of the poor. Any more than John McCain fraternized with enlisted men and women in the Navy. (In fact, fraternizing between officers and enlisted is prohibited.)
There are a few who have had “one of us” experiences. Only a few.
Truman had. And he kept a number of his humble habits. He shunned the elites of Washington. Went to bed in the White House at nine o’clock most nights. He preferred that to having to suffer state dinners. He kept in touch with old hometown friends. Many a night he played poker with cronies.
Did this make him a better president, more in touch with “us” than most? Perhaps.
His predecessor, Franklin Roosevelt, only knew life at the other end of the spectrum. He was born into great wealth. He probably never stepped into a grocery store in his life. I would be surprised if he learned how to make a sandwich. Despite this, he seemed pretty well tuned into the tragedies suffered by Americans during the Great Depression.
Whether or not Governor Palin would make a good vice-president or president, I simply love that she is in the race. She is a welcome relief from the elitism we are exposed to in politics, entertainment and our media.
A good many of our Hollywood folks live in another universe. You can tell this by the babble that escapes them.
Our big-time media commentators have been out of touch for decades. They mostly go to the same schools of journalism. They mostly live in New York City or Washington, D.C.
You can understand why Palin’s nomination upset them. First, they could not find her name in their contact files. She was not among the Beltway figures, so she could not be important.
More telling, most of these folks have never been on a PTA. Most have never run a business, faced a payroll. Most have never run for mayor of Podunk. And most are suprised whenever a conservative type wins an election. That is because most of their friends and workmates are liberals. They sure look foolish belittling Palin’s “one of us” qualities. Because so many of “us” know they live on pedastals.
This is just plain refreshing. Here is a big-time politician who could say “I feel your pain” and be able to back it up.
From Tom ... as in Morgan.
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