There's an old Dick Van Dyke Show episode where Rob, ever the egotist, overheard his friend Jerry say tongue-in-cheek over an intercom that "Rob is no Albert Schweitzer." His ego was crushed. Pretty hilarious.
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A GOP talking point uses kind of the same logic with criticisms of Palin's experience. Rudy Guiliani said to Andrea Mitchell tonight that when Obama says that Mayor Palin's town was too small, he risks insulting "most of America."
Nothing against "most of America," or even its many small-town mayors, but unless they have Rob Petrie-sized egos, they shouldn't be offended by the assertion that they aren't ready to be vice president. Who knew? The same goes for the governor of Alaska, which state has a population equal to that of the city of Memphis, TN. Is the mayor of Memphis presidential caliber? Probably not.
This "every citizen a president" notion dovetails with the Republican idea that a president should be someone we'd like to have a beer with. We all know how that kind of dumbing-down works out.
Rather than such pandering, better to gently tell the vast majority of people that, seriously, although they're fine people, they're no Albert Schweitzers--and for some jobs you really need one. Hopefully they can handle the news.