Thursday, September 04, 2008

Palin's Speech Is Not Enough

Gov. Sarah Palin gave a rousing, smart-mouthed speech last night as she accepted the Republican vice-presidential nomination in St. Paul. Some people don’t like sarcasm. I do.

That, plus the accolades to John McCain as a national hero, was almost enough to make me switch teams. But not quite. In the end, an election is a question of values, not gonads or hormones. I do not share those of the Republican candidates for the nation’s highest offices, Sen. John McCain and Palin.

Yon Cassius has a lean and hungry look

So Shakespeare characterized one of Julius Caesar's assassins in his play of that name. The line, describing a friend tuned traitor, has become a descriptor of ambition. I do not, of course, literally see Senator Barack Obama as murderous or traitorous. Yet, when I see this slim young fellow of somewhat meagre national political credentials, the renowned playwright's words come to my mind.

I remain disappointed, and more so by the day, in the Democratic nomination of Barack Obama. Had he served his full Congressional term – even, in a worst case scenario, waiting out eight years of a Hillary Clinton presidency – he could have run with unassailable credentials of experience.

If he loses, it will be because of his ambition to pluck the golden apple from the tree before he was ripe.

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