Palin and Guinevere
Posted: September 14th, 2008, 4:49 pm
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Palin and Guinevere
for release 09-14-08
Dallas, Texas
by Lightning Rod
When I ran for Student Council in high school, there were more registered voters in my school than there were is Wasilla, Alaska when Sarah Palin ran for mayor. I got more votes than she did and I lost the election.
I have many children too, four by blood and several more by adoption of the heart. This is nice and heartwarming but it doesn't qualify me to be vice-president and potentially president of the United States.
When the glamour of the Palin nomination wears off, we will have to ask ourselves this question: "Do we want a hockey mom as leader of our country?" My answer is terse. No.
I love hockey moms and stage moms and soccer moms and all kinds of moms. They are the backbone of our culture. But being a 'working mom' is not a qualification for public office. When was the last time you heard the term 'working dad?'
The issue in the case of Palin is not gender, it's ability and experience. Soon the honeymoon will be over and the press, hopefully, will start asking the important questions. What does she know about national and international political affairs? How does a hockey mom deal with a career politician like V. Putin face to face? It would be like June Cleaver facing down Count Dracula.
Then there is the matter of religious beliefs. This shouldn't matter in the choice of a leader, but it does. For all of our high flown ideals about separation of church and state, we all know that it is an illusion. We try to keep it out of the mechanisms of government but in reality, religion and philosophy play an important part in the way we think about the world and how we select our leaders. Do you want to trust your future to a person who believes that the earth is 6000 years old?
Do we want to entrust our energy future to a person who thinks that we can drill our way out of this nightmare (especially if the drilling is in her state)? Do you want to entrust your personal rights to someone who believes that you don't have custody of your own body?
As soon as we get past the Arthur and Guinevere stage of this political romance, we will realize that this isn't Camelot, In the real world, you don't want a hockey mom as your president, no matter how attractive and motherly she is. It's nice in a Jimmy Stewart or an Eddie Murphy or Robin Williams movie, but the economy, civil rights, international relations and energy policy are not heartwarming subjects nor comedy and they are not issues that can be managed by an amateur or a hockey mom.
The Poet's Eye would rather see Sarah Palin in a sit-com (portrayed by Tina Fey of course) than as the president of our country.
Oh, they found Guenevere
With her bold cavalier
And as swords rang through the hall
Lance escaped them, one and all
On a day dark and drear
Came to trial Guenevere
Ruled the jury for her shame
She be sentenced to the flame
---Camelot, Jay Lerner