Palin is Pygmalion with the ygm and o removed. That is all.
Palin is just Pygmalion with some letters removed, and the treatment she’s getting is probably not far off from that of Eliza Doolittle. I can’t respect a candidate that needs to be taken off and sculpted into an “acceptable” speaker for the media interviews.
This is just pathetic and it shows what I’ve believed all along: the Palin pick was the shrewdest piece of political theater I’ve seen in my lifetime. Not because it was a good move (it still looks to turn out as a disaster). It was shrewd simply because of the amount of attention it garnered. And continues to garner.
It reminds me a lot of the old Vandals song, “And Then She Spoke…,” which includes one of my favorite lines: “if she don’t shut up / I’m gonna throw up / all over her shoes.” Point is that for now she’s not opened her mouth in this campaign without it being prepared. She hasn’t had to show her true personality.
And that is the real mark of Pygmalion: Doolittle was covered in a cake of makeup so thick that her original person was lost. The same is being attempted on Palin.
McCain and Obama both list issues on their site in the form of a drop-down listing and an issues index page. I compare the two sites.
I was looking today at the two candidates’ websites, at their issues and noticed something odd. John McCain’s website puts education dead last on the issues page. So, I decided to compare it to Barack Obama’s website.
McCain
McCain Issue List
McCain’s site lists 12 items on its menu one of which links to the index of the issues (16 on the index page itself). The disconnect between the menu and the index:
The page calls it Immigration, the list calls it Border Security
Judicial Philosophy, National Heritage, and Agricultural Policies don’t appear on the list but do appear on the index
Education is 6th on the list, but 16th on the index, way at the bottom.
The ordering of the issues can only reasonably be assumed to have something to do with his or his campaign’s priorities or the issues’ perceived impacts with the voters. Putting education damned last with no rhyme or reason sends a clear message, which is oddly exactly what Obama has proclaimed of late: It’s like these guys take pride in being ignorant.
McCain’s site has far fewer issues listed than Obama’s in the first place and I doubt he even knows what kinds of things would fall under a Women Issues heading. He’s got a Human Dignity & Life or Sanctity of Life issues section (depending whether you consult the list or index; he’s got consistency issues as well). But that doesn’t include things like equal pay or glass ceiling or day care in the workplace, for example.
Obama
Obama Issue List
His site mirrors the list on the index. The issues are alphabetically listed. The minor difference comes with the index page linking to a PDF on his policy at the top while the list places it at the bottom. Also the list contains a link to Additional Issues that the index page does not. Oh, and another minor difference: the index page leaves off Women. Maybe that’s because the alphabetical listing would have put women at the bottom, but I’m not sure.
Obama’s only real flaw is, ahem, LEAVING OFF WOMEN. Other than that the two are identical. And alphabetical which justifies the order. Women should be on the index page even if you have to rename them to Females to give them higher billing, dammit.
The Obama campaign is obviously more tactful and sensitive to making good choices about even minor details like the order of a list. They understand that arbitrary ordering can only lead to people judging that order and the motives behind it. They also understand that these issues aren’t one-off shots each standing on their own and that they effect each other and need addressing. They’re taking a wider look at the world that the McCain camp probably dismisses quite readily, being from the truly elitest party.
Conclusions
Anyway, this has been a brief look at the issues list and issues index page for both the campaign websites. Boiled down to a single-digit integer between 0 and 9 (from a pure design standpoint discounting the content of the issue items themselves) I’d give McCain’s list and index a 4 and Barack Obama’s a 7.
McCain is a scary prospect for November. I’d prefer a president in favor of, for example, Nuclear Disarmament.
I have to say and hate to say, but it seems that McCain is Medvedev to Bush’s Putin.
But seriously speaking for a moment, I have major reservations about what the man’s economic policy will be. Bush’s economy has done serious yet reparable harm. But another Bush-esque leader when it comes to the economy? We might be looking at the total collapse of the dollar in that case. Seriously ominous given that McCain has Bush’s tap-dance of approval.
As far as his policy toward bombing other countries, that’s scary too… but ultimately America’s desire to kill foreigners without contrition is an economic desire. People build the bombs and planes and even the damn whistles in the bombs put food on someone’s table. Arms manufacturers. We sold to Iraq, to Iran, to Israel, to Saudi Arabia. . . You get the idea.
So the question is, will McCain help the nation or help the businesses, particularly those in the business of war? It certainly looks that way. Now that he’s the Goopers’ nominee, he’s been putting on a bit more makeup, straightening his hair a bit more; he has to appeal to the base (hopefully not that base……) This boils down to talking up tax cuts, ignoring Bush’s failings, etc.
He does have a few good features. Torture shouldn’t even be an issue, and people are insane to think otherwise. Campaigns should not cost hundreds of millions of dollars.
But tax cuts aren’t an economic solution. They solve the problem that our tax system is screwed up… but they have to be properly apportioned to achieve that goal… which they weren’t. Reform the tax system? Sure.
Instead, a bandaid that’s been laced with lye? That’s what generally passes for reform in this country.
Go to hell. No, really, go there, and then when you get there, ask for a copy of their laws, then come back, and compare them to ours. They’ve had ethics reform, tax reform, campaign finance reform… hell is actually not that bad since they got universal health care and public transportation. You don’t have to worry about predatory lending anymore since they capped adjustable rate mortgage changes.
I am hopeful that given enough tries this nation will elect a set of leaders that will put to work the gargantuan bureaucracy to true good. But until that day the best we can do is to try to keep the main foundation from rotting out from under us. That means not voting for dynastic presidencies. We don’t need Bush’s third term.
