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By now you’ve heard that John McCain has picked his vice presidential nominee, Sarah Palin to run with him on the republican ticket in the general elections this November. The timing of his announcement did precisely what it was supposed to do: get people talking about McCain, rather than Obama, on his nomination day no less!
Shortly after Obama delivered a grand slam speech in Denver Thursday night, McCain announced that he would reveal his pick for the Vice Presidential office the following day. Specculation ran rampant throughout the night, but the secret remained secure until very near the end. The result was that the media and pundits everywhere were giving appropriate homage to Obama’s speech, but were obviously eager to jump into McCain’s VP nominee.
So far Sarah Palin appears to be a very interesting choice for the VP pick. The main problem, and indeed perhaps her biggest asset, is that she is virtually unknown to anybody on the national stage. Much as Obama was when he first started his candidacy.
So who is this Sarah Palin?
Sarah Palin is a native of Idaho, a life long member of the NRA, she is a journalist by training, and is a graduate of the University of Idaho. By way of political experience, she was the mayor of a small town in Alaska, and was elected the governor of Alaska two years ago in a land-slide humiliating the then seated governor. Sarah Palin fits in with the image of an Alaskan, she loves to hunt, fish, snow mobile, and she even owns a float plane, a valuable form of transport in Alaska.
Politically she has been called a “maverick”, for fighting against corruption in her own party, while at the same time maintaining openly gay friendships. She is a devout christian, and has an excellent family. Her son is scheduled to serve in Iraq in September, and she just gave birth to her fifth child in April, which was diagnosed with downs syndrome. For more in depth information about Sara Palin, visit Blog Critics Magazine.
What does this all mean for John McCain? While John battles a mild form of skin cancer, this increases the legitimate argument that the VP must be able to assume the presidency. Sarah Palin has little political experience, but ironically, she has more executive experience than John McCain, Barack Obama, and Joe Biden combined. I would love to see that in an ad somewhere.
Though with McCain selecting Palin to be his running mate, he has effectively stripped himself of the ace of spades: experience. McCain has repeatedly attacked Obama on his lack of experience in all matters. With Palin’s paltry two years experience, it makes it much easier for the Obama campaign to counter this with the same argument. Will this cost McCain? Time will tell for sure, it would seem the experience argument wasn’t a very effective one against Obama’s “change” anyhow, and it seems McCain’s advisers understand this.
Instead, McCain has chosen somebody that the American people can become enamored with. Sarah Palin is attractive, intelligent, dignified, and elegant. She has been hailed as a walking photo-op, and she is the kind of person that people are naturally drawn to. She holds a commanding yet approachable and friendly poise that is inherently matriarchal in its emanation. She is the kind of woman that working class blue collar man can get behind, unlike Hillary Clinton, who seemed entirely elitist and out of touch for many men. Sarah Palin could do much simply for the image of the United States abroad. She is the epitomy of an all-american girl, right down to her marriage of her high school sweetheart.
Sarah Palin is an inspiration for all of us, whether you agree with her policies or not. Her success in her family, her fight against corruption, and her acceptance of gays and lesbians with an open christian heart and mind. She represents what we all desire to be, successful and happy in all aspects of our lives. She ballances her life remarkably well, and as such we could all learn something about that from her.
Will she swing former Hillary supporters? Some, mainly those who are more concerned about getting any woman in the whitehouse, no matter their policies. But she isn’t a woman of the same flavor.
If there is anything that will be used against Sarah Palin, it will likely be in connection to her husband, who works for BR an oil company on the Northshore. If she can be linked to big oil interests, then Obama’s slogan of “Change We Can Believe In” will likely resonate even louder with the american people.
The events of the last week have been a long time in coming. Its been no secret that the two nations have been in dispute for some time. Finally the Russians have had enough. This is something literally ripped out of a Tom Clancy video game called Ghost Recon. The premise of Ghost Recon was a small team of Force Recon Marines are inserted into Georgia to stop a Russian invasion. The really interesting thing is, the story takes place in the year 2008.
Here is the video introduction to the game that was made in 2001. The game was phenomenal.
Maybe you should watch that one again. Scary isn’t it? Suddenly this isn’t a story anymore, this is life.
Regardless of the paralells between Tom Clancy’s work of fiction and today’s headlines, the overall jist of the two are ironically similar. The Russians have worked hard over the last decade and a half to lull the United States and its allies into complacency. They adopted a representative form of government, sought entry into NATO, and decried the placement of the missile shield by George Bush. Thank goodness President Bush decided to build the shield anyway. For those interested, here is a great FAQ from the BBC about the European Missile Defence Shield.
What does this mean for the United States and its allies? It would seem that the Russians couldn’t have picked a better time to test the mettle of its opposers. The United States is spread thin in Iraq, Afghanistan, and South Korea. They struck during the Olympics in Beijing so as to minimize the public’s awareness of the situation. Quite frankly, it would seem the public consciousness is hardly registering the impact of these developments. Though who can blame us? We’ve had many wars in the last few years, many just desire to occupy themselves with something less trivial.
More to the point though, what can the US and its allies do? In our unprepared state we are not even remotely in an economic position to wage a war of the magnitude that would be required to fight a war against the Motherland. Secondly we are a very war weary nation. While I strongly believe in a nations right and indeed its obligation to defend itself and its interests, I cant help but feel a sense of apathy at getting involved in another war. Yet if war we must, then war we will. The real question is when?
Interestingly we owe a debt of honor to the Georgians. In the Iraq war, the three largest forces have been first and foremost the United States, with Great Britain coming in second, while Georgia maintained the third largest military presence in Iraq until recently when they had to recall their troops in the midst of increasing threats from Russia.
So how can we, the defenders of freedom, the unsoliticted hero of nations, the destroyer of tyranny, shrink from the fight? How can we stand up for our principles and freedoms and turn our back on a nation such as Georgia. Unfortunately I am afraid that we aren’t the super power we used to be. The US relies upon a volunteer army, and as such has a very small military force.
Additionally, if the conflict escalates, you can bank on Iran allying with Russia, who would likely accelerrate the Iranian nuclear capabilites. Israel would undoubtedly intervene if any serious Russo-Iranian alliance were to be struck up, and the dominos would already have fallen.
As for the moment, the world is watching and waiting. Moscow is sounding very much like Hitler did with the invasion of Poland; promising that they’re not going to stay, or that they’re just resolving an internal matter. Meanwhile the stories coming out of Georgia are confusing and difficult to confirm. A ceasefire was declared, and for a moment was in effect, but still Russia drove forward, deeper and deeper into the nation. The world may well put up with this, much to the misfortune of the Georgians. But then, much like we were during the blitzkrieg of Poland in World War II, we aren’t in a very strong position to do much. I’m afraid the true conflict may be further down the road.
In the meantime one politician is actually getting it right. John McCain has made a very sensible political move and has called Vladimir Putin what he is, “KGB”. While Bush is very fond of Putin on a personal basis, our next President, whomever he is, must not be permitted to feed the Great Bear. This signals a new age for Russia. The post communist depression is being lifted, the fires of nationalism are being stirred, and the youth are flocking to their leader. Sound like Hitler anyone?
Only time will tell for sure. Hopefully within the month we’ll have a better idea of what Russia’s plans are for Georgia, how serious they are, and how long they plan to stay. For now, the reports are too conflicting to say anything for sure.
All this being said, I am optimistic about the future of the United States. I believe in the divine nature and indeed in the divine destiny of this nation to bless the world by example, not compulsion. Not by intimidation, sanctions, threats, and other distasteful methods, but with benevolence and mercy, and a genuine goodness. I recognize that we are not a perfect nation, that we have often been found to be the aggressor, to be the cause of many of the problems, but if we stick to the principles and attitudes that the Founding Fathers put forth, then we shall ever prosper and be a shining city on the hill.
