I'm a huge fan of Ken Burns. His documentaries have inspired me to delve further into the history of our country throughout my life. His ability to tell the factual history of our country in a compelling narrative has always compelled me. In short, I respect him greatly. To my great surprise, he posted on Huffington Post his thoughts on what was happening with John McCain and how he's betrayed his supporters. Here's the first paragraph from his post at Huffington:
What happened to John McCain? What happened to the man so many of us in New Hampshire have admired and respected for so long? The fierce bipartisan warrior, the straight talker, the maverick whose ideas nearly everyone found some common ground with now seems missing in action. He seems to have betrayed the very attributes that originally commended him to us and earned our earlier trust and support.
More after the jump.
Before I delve into his post, here's a youtube of Bill Maher interviewing him - so one can see the type of thinking that Ken Burns displays:
He starts by doing what all Democrats do - praise John McCain for his service. This classy leadoff is, in spite of what others may think, necessary - as it lends credibility to the argument. But then he goes on the attack, questioning the validity of being a war hero in relation to the presidency as well as focusing on his apparent pandering to the right.
The most devastating argument, though, comes midway through, when he basically eviscerates McCain's pick of Sarah Palin as a running mate:
More to the point, he continues almost daily to demonstrate that instability and other judgmental and temperamental concerns, issues and complaints that originally brought a slew of challengers into the Republican primary contests. And in the most important decision of his candidacy, he cynically and irresponsibly chose the supremely unqualified Sarah Palin, cheapening the race as if it were some high school popularity contest or the latest "American Idol" competition.
Now, this is as strongly worded criticism of Palin as I've heard by someone who I respect and view as somewhat scholarly (although not truly a person with a doctorate in History). Its significant because Ken Burns is someone who many see as a true American - bathed in the depth of American History and influenced by the plight of the American citizen. He's the comfort food for documentary filmmakers.
McCain is a man who once championed openness and fairness in government, who now wants to continue the failed policies of the current administration and who increasingly wants to make the crucial decisions of our democracy behind closed doors with the same cronies who got us into this mess in the first place. And he has shown a profound indifference to and often startling ignorance of economic affairs just as our country inches toward depression.
I couldn't have said it better myself. The finale of this compelling post is to say that John McCain has done enough to turn New Hampshire blue. His final comment on Obama is great, but I feel that he doesn't talk about him enough. But the gist of the post is clear - our country is being put in danger by McCain and Palin. Coming from Ken Burns, that makes me scared... frightened actually.
We in New Hampshire bear some responsibility, I suppose. Thinking we had the old McCain, we gave him a decisive victory in our primary that permitted him to vanquish those challengers. But he betrayed us. If you have to say you're a maverick in your ads, it's clear you're not. The real maverick turns out to be Barack Obama, who bucked his party's establishment and whose once-lonely positions have been adopted by nearly everyone including even the Bush administration. Nearly everyone, that is, except John McCain. So what happened to him?
That's what Granite State citizens have been asking the last few months. The answer is enough to turn us blue.
Update: As mentioned Kitty, this is actually originally posted in the Union Leader from New Hampshire here.