I can see clearly now, the rain is gone,
I can see all obstacles in my way
Gone are the dark clouds that had me blind
It’s gonna be a bright (bright), bright (bright)
Sun-Shiny day.
Johnny Nash
As we have seen from most of the news since last week, Sarah Palin is a very famous or infamous character throughout most of the media world. Maybe that's what John McCain meant when he said he would make those pork barrel folks famous. I've still been trying to figure out the meaning of it all and have come to a clarity on what this all means. This is what Republicans do a whole lot better than Democrats. Listening to snippets of the new Lee Atwater film bio-doc Boogie Man....I get it. You see the Republicans really do see campaigns as war and unless we start seeing them the same way you'll be seeing John McCain standing at the Capital Building on January 21, 2009.
Before Friday, August 29th this was a rather ordinary race that managed to take someone that is an extraordinary candidate in anytime and one could argue one of the most extraordinary candidates this nation has ever produced and softened the edges of him. This was a race against the only Republican that could be nominated in a change election. As the race wore on in the democratic primaries some of the progressive factions within the democratic party grew a bit less enthusiastic about Barack Obama. Even I was hurt over FISA and compared it to a blow to the solar plexus. The Friends I talked to who are far more progressive than I had the classic..."Well I am going to vote for him, BUT!!!!
You see as much as we all are dying to end Republican Rule, John McCain does not inspire the kind of frothy, rabid type of enraged madness that say George Bush or Dick Cheney does. We know that John McCain is kind of a pathetic figure that slowly and surely lost his way from more dignified origins. A man that probably should have been President on September 11th, 2001 if a Republican was destined to win or "be selected" and surely would have done a better job than the one who was. Although that's a very low hurdle to jump, it's not just a backhanded complement. What we do know is John is someone that sold out to finally reach the Hillary Step (No pun intended). Poor John like the protagonist of cautionary tales has reached the final step and in doing so lost himself and most of his convictions. Taxes, torture, immigration, the Bush people. The real reason Republicans hated John McCain for so long is that he tried to play ball fair. That doesn't work for the GOP and John has been brought around to the real way to play ball. The one thing that Democrats don't get is how powerful and profane having a campaign theme of "Country First" is. The Republicans throw out a lot of stuff and whether it's true or not doesn't matter to them. The only point is that you are defending yourself and when you spend time explaining you are losing.
We knew that it would get rather nasty and it already has, but something told me that McCain would do what he could to temper the really ugly stuff. Everything changed on August 29th. This was the day when John McCain officially ended his leadership role of the John McCain Campaign. Sure our first reaction was..."You gotta be kidding". Then over the weekend we all did our homework on Palin and felt like many that this was a desperate and pandering move driven by gimmickry. We laughed as we found out some of the more lurid details of her life and thought..."Great we are running against a hayseed cheerleader from Petticoat Junction." We all snickered at the notion that McCain took so little time to choose his vice presidential candidate.
Well, Who's laughing now?
I am a glass half-empty person, so I see the great things about this choice from a perspective of an Obama supporter. Lets face it, Wednesday night at the RNC was one of the most profane and appalling evenings of political rhetoric America has ever borne witnessed to. It had the feeling of an old fashioned tent revival with various 2nd stringers taking shots at Sen. Obama, Minorities, and Liberalism in general. Although the greatest enemy to "American Values" wasn't a community organizer, it was THE BIG BAD ELITIST EASTERN MEDIA. You see even when they can't completely paint Obama as an elitist, they can paint the media that is "in the tank" for him as Elitist. Guilt by Association is one the GOP's favorite surgical instruments. The "Closer" that evening was a little innocent small town "Hockey Mom" and she didn't come out to soften things. She piled on and she did a very effective job for the people that chose her. Not only did she mock Obama and the Media. She called out Harry Reid on his masculinity. Mockery is one of the most effective tools in political rhetoric. Sarah Palin will be the most effective instrument in Steve Schmidt's holster. She is the tip of the spear. Because lets remember... John McCain didn't choose her and that's the premise of my diary. She was chosen by a faction of the party that has sought more control as each year goes by and they never quite had the packaging down. Robertson was a maniac, Ralph Reed a slimeball with the face of a child, Falwell a monster, Huckabee: Gomer Pyle.
Now they have what they want. Re-Branding. Rick Warren is the face of this new wing. A "kinder", "gentler" brand of "you're going to hell!!!" It's the Rapture with carbon credits.
The Republicans have their Prodigal Son in the form of a cross-breed of Norma Rae, Calamity Jane & Nurse Blaylock from The Omen with a dash of Piper Laurie from Carrie. Believe me I don't use those comparisons strictly as a negative. I'm a big fan of the Sally Field Movie and I adore Deadwood and the whole mythology of the old west. That is why it is so effective. It is rather ironic that 2 of the candidates in this year election come from the last 2 states admitted into the union and it's funny the image we have burned into our own minds of what those two places are like. Hawaii fits into what the media has allowed pundits to turn Barack Obama into and Alaska surely plays into the narrative of Sarah Palin.
I thought the Republicans had always accepted defeat in November and just tried to fight it out and hope Obama was the second coming of Jimmy Carter, stuck and mired in economic and energy problems only to give way to a new revamped GOP in 2012 vs. a Romney type. Now their Plan A & Plan B have taken a new shape. They still are ready to lose, but they have a slightly better chance of winning and even if they don't. They have the future of their party. Rigid social values wrapped in the clothing of small town values and hollywood narratives.The Republicans mock Hollywood, but always use its conventions and devices to secure power. Lets face it. A gun-toting bible thumper is much more appealing when it's a mother of five than some John Rambo male candidate. Even these thugs don't like the NEO-CON brand and what do you do when your brand is in ruins? You change the name, change the logo, and change the packaging. It's worked for a lot of companies. Even Mr. Limbaugh always adds "Whatever happens in November....We have found our party again...
The strategy is to now fight hard for a win by securing the base and go as sharply negative as you can imagine. This campaign will get very ugly and I sense an ad coming in October that will be the Daisy ad, The Wilie Horton ad of this year's election. Maybe they will even trot out God Damn America Rev. Wright again for an encore. The uppity remarks and the other ones about Obama being devoid of patriotism this week from two separate small time Republicans were signs of the beginning of warfare. The first archers launching shots. We will see incredibly appalling remarks made by the foot soldiers and more coded language by the larger pieces. Pawns can be given away, but Dog Whistle politics will be used by the more valuable pieces on the board. The beauty of the Palin pick for them is that she can say pretty much anything and go over the top without drawing the type of fire that another male politician would draw. The GOP now have a fix-it-all solution for any attack. Sexism. John McCain has his POW card (Which I wish folks would notice that Obama never fails to honor) and Sarah Palin has her sexism card. I never knew the GOP would discover a new type of Identity Politics and I never knew the GOP would discover Sexism. Isn't it Dobson who chastises working women?
Now for the next 2 months....
This race is better and greater because Obama can't triangulate anymore. He can't win this by simply running out the clock. (sorry I hate sports metaphors but fall prey to them as well) He has to shoot, fire, fight and draw the same sharp contrasts with the Mccain/Palin/Gop army as they will with him. Of course Obama is a little hamstrung because he can't react angrily in the same way a white politician could. Like Jackie Robinson he has to "take it" more than others and more than should be allowed or acceptable. I think that was his reasoning for Biden along with the unforeseen Russian situation. He needs an advocate for the rural, middle class as well as someone who can go over the top on attacks. He also has to listen to his base and he has to strike the hardcore economic populist message that was so effective at the end of the Clinton Primary for her. In essence what Obama has to do is run on the speech he gave in Denver and not on the various nuances he has at times been guilty of. (Don't get me wrong, I love nuance, but so did Adlai Stevenson). I want a smart President, but I also want him to be President. That sounds at odds with itself...but it's not. What Obama has to do is call out John McCain to denounce every single attack. That's what the whole "Race card from the bottom of the deck" bit from Rick Davis was. They were setting up Obama for an attack later.
What Obama has to propose are the kind of sweeping changes to the Economy and Infrastructure that FDR pulled off. He has to speak to the challenges of our world in a growing climate disaster where water may be the next resource that wars are fought over and he has to speak about the environment not just as an Irwin Allen film, but as a way to settle the pain of lost jobs. A new hope, a new chance at a new business model. He has to make it clear that if he only does one thing in his Presidency it will be to save the Supreme Court from being taken over by the Dobsons. He has to speak the language of FDR and LINCOLN as well as the language of JOHN LENNON and GANDHI...
I thought originally that he should fight the GOP with issues. I still believe issues will be a part of the attack, but Rick Davis was actually right. This will be about personalities and narratives. Obama needs to keep telling his narrative. That's what forced the GOP's hands with the Palin pick. The mother from Kansas bit scared them because it's true, but most importantly because it works. It works against their tried and true golden oldie. "The most liberal, european, effete politician attack". They use it every time not because they're stupid, but because it works. That American Flag stuff is no accident. That is their Haymaker.
In the Palin wing of the GOP, Obama has the perfect ideology to fight against in an Al Gore World: Global Warming Denier, Oil Worshipper. Extremely Anti-Women's rights (We should all use this instead of pro-life), End Times Theology based around God's mission against Islam. Anti-Intellectualism. Division against Unity.
You see Sarah Palin may have some of you angry. some of you worried, some of you confident.
It has me smiling because I CAN SEE CLEARLY NOW. There is no gray in this race at all anymore if there ever was. It has me smiling because there is no room for error and no chance to feel as if we've won. This isn't a joke anymore and we can't sit back and think this will be easy. It's Black and White. It's a war over what the function of Government and Society is. It's a war over inclusion or exclusion. Lifting us up or pushing us down. It's also a lucky cycle where those undecided voters and those folks that didn't pay attention until the conventions can be won by Democrats. I think Palin's speech was great for the GOP, but it really turned off a lot of people especially women. They don't care because they only need enough people to buy the lies and not ask questions. It's a war between us and them and this year there are a lot more of us than them. IF we vote.
Now I know that if we fight and win then the little person does have a voice and the good guy does win once in awhile. If we fight and lose then I know that America really is as dumb and apathetic or perhaps as racist as I sometime worry it is. Make no mistake though. This can't be won by simple little guy makes good story lines. Tie the whole Republican party together as Bush. This is our bludgeon.
One of the reasons we long for the golden days of the past and wallow in nostalgia is because we have a misguided view that things were clearer then. Right/Wrong, Greed/Humility, Sacred/Profane...You see Nostalgia is actually a form of depression. It's a type of fatalism. It says nothing ahead is as bright as what was behind. In this case it couldn't be more clear and we need to recognize this. We have a little help because no matter how much Davis and Schmidt want to keep McCain on message he will score a few own goals for us. Palin will stay on message. Don't wait for her to screw up in an interview. They are preparing her as we communicate right now. They will have a few golden oldies that she will go to every time a tough question is asked. We might even get a few tears out of her to touch the hearts of those without any.
This isn't some vague difference anymore. This isn't "Well Obama will probably win so I don't need to vote". This is a wake up call that the old guard of the GOP is back and they will not concede anything. Not a single news cycle. This is a battle for the very soul of America. A battle for us to live up to our creed and our reputation. A chance for us live out the courage of our convictions and a small window to show the rest of the world that
"We are a better country than these last 8 years". Barack Obama will have to use every trick he learned in Chicago to beat these guys. They will score some points over the next 2 months. We will too. Expect a major national security problem sometime in October. Expect the head of Osama Bin Laden. Expect some of the most outrageous smears you can imagine. These guys do not care and we shouldn't either. It's not about us sinking completely to their level but if Obama does not fight hard or fight back they will win and we will all lose. People thought beating Clinton was tough, this is the real test.
As I have said before. I am smiling that Palin is in the race. Now we know there is no more room for just enough to win. This is down and dirty, nut check time.