A Tapestry In Two Tickets

Washington Post
by David Ignatius

The WaPo article spells it out;

Republican Side

1) No - Palin, breathtakingly unqualified to be president
2) No - messy real world
3) No - “Special Needs” children
4) No - old John McCain
5) No - pregnant daughter
6) No - hockey-star boyfriend/father in waiting

Democrat Side

1) a suave, aloof African American
2) Conventional Columbia-Harvard pedigree
3) elegant Princeton-Harvard wife
4) picture-perfect children
5) a charismatic celebrity
6) a lifelong senator, the average Joe
7) removal of any God except for “The One,” Barack Obama

I find it hard to tell if Ignatius and the WaPo are having an erotic dream or if this is a trip through wonderland.

It’s a refreshingly upside-down composite picture: The African American candidate is the most conventional of the lot, with his Columbia-Harvard pedigree and his elegant Princeton-Harvard wife and their picture-perfect children. It’s the gal from Alaska, Sarah Palin, who reminds us of how messy the real world is, with her special-needs child passed from hand to hand, her pregnant teenage daughter and the hockey-star boyfriend/father who looks, weirdly, like he just won the lottery.

And old John McCain, eyes flashing, tighter than a tick, just like old Gramps when he’s about to take a verbal shot at someone he thinks is a jerk.

~~~
Palin is breathtakingly unqualified to be president, and the idea that we would have someone in the White House who wants to overturn science and teach creationism in our public schools is, well, terrifying. McCain is too old and too prone to zingers to be an ideal commander in chief, his bravery and sense of honor notwithstanding. We need a president who knows how to settle conflicts honorably, as opposed to starting new ones.

The rap that Obama is a charismatic celebrity has traction because in some ways it’s true: He takes sang-froid a step too far; he is so cool he’s unnerving; and it’s still too hard to be sure how he would govern as president. The most normal of the lot is Biden — how odd is that, that the lifelong senator would be the average Joe?

Ignatius shows an alarming insensitivity toward children he thinks make the world “messy.” His writings reveal what might be a common trait among men of his ilk.

All of the terms mentioned above are in the WaPo article. I’ve taken a few just to give you the idea. Be sure and follow this link to the entire article.

ShareThis