Enough Palin
As sad as it is, Palin is a pawn. Everyone in power (the neo-cons) knows that this election is too important to leave to the candidates to debate about the issues, so they found this conveniently outrageous caricature of a person to distract us from what matters in this election: the economy and the war.
The status quo of both of these things plays to the advantage of the rich, and as they do in all elections, they make anything that might jeopardize their status a non-issue by flooding the media with other garbage.
GE for example, which owns a huge part of the American media, also furnishes our troops with supplies. It is therefore very profitable for them for us to stay fighting. Thus, they use the influence they have, namely the media, to make the war a marginal issue in this election. Just do a quick survey of the top headlines on google. Two thirds of them are about Palin’s eccentricities.
Far more interesting than issues to the American public (and these corporations know it) is the juicy gossip about nepotism, teen pregnancy, hypocrisy, book banning, inexperience, and moose meat that follows Palin.
We will be distracted by this, while McCain plots how to convince us, as Bush and Rove did, that if his party is not in power, some outside force will conquer us and drive us into a new dark age.
Don’t be fooled: Palin was not a bad choice at all. She will serve the end she was selected to further, and that is to make this election an issue of personality. Hence the renewed focus on ‘maverickness’. In the end, we will be forced to elect McCain, so he can protect us from the impending barbarian invasions.
The xenophobic fear that Republicans have instilled in us throughout the last twenty years will most certainly reincarnate itself in the last hours of this election, and will effectively nullify any lead Obama may have had based on his stand on the issues. As we can see from recent polls, Obama was far ahead in the ‘would do better with the economy’ venue, but now is trailing in that and other polls. Focus has shifted elsewhere.
This is the game they play. Obama knows it, and in the last few days has made it a policy not to mention Palin’s name at all.
We will see if his strategy pans out.