Today, Christopher Hitchens had an article in Slate Magazine entitled "Vote for Obama. McCain lacks the character and temperament to be president. And Palin is simply a disgrace." Not that he has an opinion, mind you. If you're at all familiar with Hitchens, you know that he is a product of English public schools and can't quite shake the influence of Old Blighty. He hasn't been known to be particularly happy with Democrats in recent years and took particular exception to Bill Clinton. So the man is not exactly over the moon about the Democratic party or its candidates.
I certainly have opinions and have no hesitancy in voicing them, but I would never claim to be particularly well versed in the details of current politics and there are absolutely many, many people who could claim to be more educated or more intelligent than I am. Whether you agree with Hitchens or not, the man is obviously erudite and well-educated and well acquainted with both past and present world and U.S. politics. He essentially agrees with what I've been saying, which I based solely on what I could be sure were actual facts as opposed to slander thrown by the opposite number and on what I could observe myself.
Chris Matthews showed a clip from Family Guy on his show today on MSNBC, showing Lois pandering mercilessly to the public after advice to do so, using short sentences and no details, and her horror that it actually proved to be successful in her campaign to win the crowd over. The only real difference between Lois's character and Palin is that Lois is knowingly doing this and horrified that it worked, whereas Palin seems to be doing these things simply because some handler told her to do so. She's not horrified, so much as perplexed. I would be embarrassed to be represented as a woman in the White House by a vice president like Palin. It's not even that her view of the world is diametrically opposed to mine. I could see someone like Christy Todd Whitman, who is dignified, experienced, well-informed and intelligent. I don't agree with her either but at least she wouldn't be an embarrassment.
As for McCain, Hitchens is much crueller in his description than even I have been, but we essentially agree that he is an unacceptable choice. I wouldn't make a claim or even imply that he's senile and physically unprepared for the presidency, but I definitely worry about his impulsiveness and how uninformed and out of touch he seems to be, and that's more than enough to leave no doubt in my mind that it would be a mistake of epic proportions to elect him president and that the American people would suffer the most for such a decision. I can't say that I'm blown away by Obama, and frankly I would have preferred Mrs. Clinton, but I can imagine someone in the White House with his unflappable demeanor and both he and Biden appear to be erudite and well-informed. These are the kind of minds that I would like to be making critical decisions in an uncertain economic climate, and with regard to making positive changes in our educational and health care systems.
What really blows my mind is when I talk to people who still prefer McCain & Palin, despite everything we've seen. I want to know what debates they were watching, because you wouldn't know they were the same ones I saw when they describe them. I worry about evangelicals, who are supposed to be around 25% of the voting population, gaining control of decision-making processes involving science, education, the rights of the individual as regards sexual preferences, marriage and children, and birth control. I don't have to agree with what you want to do with yourself or with others, but it is neither religion's nor government's decision about what you do behind closed doors, with whom, how much, and what way and only you should be able to decide that. And I worry that this campaign and possibly the results of the election could increase an angry and disenfranchised part of the population's fear of Other, which could reinvigorate racism, which never disappeared, especially in some areas of the country, but which at least is less virulent in most places.
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