One of the most memorable and poignant moments about Barack Obama's 2004 convention speech was when he talked about One America ("not red states and blue states but the United States of America"). It made a lot of people cry because, as a nation, we mourned that loss of unity.
Karl Rove and his ilk believe that the only way Republicans win is by dividing America - over gays, God, and (fill in the blank). Rove is brilliant in the sense that he knows how to craft a simple message that hits the jugular -- but he's basically a one trick pony: divide the country in the most corrosive way possible, eek out a narrow victory. Rove forced Palin on McCain because he figured the only way Republicans could win was to recreate the dissonance of past elections.
Palin does the trick. She makes the Right swoon and the Left spit fire.
See the Washington Post today.
Republicans and Democrats have deeply contrasting first impressions of Republican vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin, suggesting partisanship, not gender, is paramount in the initial public reviews.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/...
Initially, I was happy about the selection of McCain as the Republican nominee even though I disagree with him because, I thought, for once the extreme (divisive) Right would be sidelined. After eight years of the Rove machine, I hoped this was going to be an election between two decent Americans who really did put "Country First" even though they had different ideas about how to do it.
But no. Over the past week, I've had flashbacks to 2000 and 2004. All the old anxiety is back. A sense that we live in a polarized country too focused on petty, stupid shit (e.g. Sarah Palin's womb) to address the real problems facing our country, a sense that we are living through the waning days of the American "empire" and the people in charge are going to stuff their pockets while the nation crumbles.
I hope Barack can effectively remind the voters about his call for unity in 2004 and figure out a way to beat back Rove's newest wedge issue.