This is an op ed piece in the New York Times by Maureen Dowd.
Sometimes I find her to be a tad snotty but this is actually really well done and hits the mark.
BARTLET GET ANGRIER! Call them liars, because that’s what they are. Sarah Palin didn’t say "thanks but no thanks" to the Bridge to Nowhere. She just said "Thanks." You were raised by a single mother on food stamps — where does a guy with eight houses who was legacied into Annapolis get off calling you an elitist? And by the way, if you do nothing else, take that word back. Elite is a good word, it means well above average. I’d ask them what their problem is with excellence. While you’re at it, I want the word "patriot" back. McCain can say that the transcendent issue of our time is the spread of Islamic fanaticism or he can choose a running mate who doesn’t know the Bush doctrine from the Monroe Doctrine, but he can’t do both at the same time and call it patriotic. They have to lie — the truth isn’t their friend right now. Get angry. Mock them mercilessly; they’ve earned it. McCain decried agents of intolerance, then chose a running mate who had to ask if she was allowed to ban books from a public library. It’s not bad enough she thinks the planet Earth was created in six days 6,000 years ago complete with a man, a woman and a talking snake, she wants schools to teach the rest of our kids to deny geology, anthropology, archaeology and common sense too? It’s not bad enough she’s forcing her own daughter into a loveless marriage to a teenage hood, she wants the rest of us to guide our daughters in that direction too? It’s not enough that a woman shouldn’t have the right to choose, it should be the law of the land that she has to carry and deliver her rapist’s baby too? I don’t know whether or not Governor Palin has the tenacity of a pit bull, but I know for sure she’s got the qualifications of one. And you’re worried about seeming angry? You could eat their lunch, make them cry and tell their mamas about it and God himself would call it restrained. There are times when you are simply required to be impolite. There are times when condescension is called for!
Maureen Dowd's article can be found here
Maureen hits the nail on the head in her piece. Obama unfortunately has to walk a fine line of being seen as a smart capable strong leader who sees flaws in the current situation without coming off as an angry black man.
It is unfortunate that in this day and age race plays an issue in any political contest. One of my hopes with this election is that the next time a woman or a person of color runs for the office of President that their sex or genetic coding wont be a talking point. That when my daughter is old enough to vote that people are only judged on their vision and qualifications to lead.
My favorite part of the article says:
BARTLET No. You’re elite, you can do both. Four weeks ago you had the best week of your campaign, followed — granted, inexplicably — by the worst week of your campaign. And you’re still in a statistical dead heat. You’re a 47-year-old black man with a foreign-sounding name who went to Harvard and thinks devotion to your country and lapel pins aren’t the same thing and you’re in a statistical tie with a war hero and a Cinemax heroine. To these aged eyes, Senator, that’s what progress looks like. You guys got four debates. Get out of my house and go back to work.
I do think the debates will cut away all the crap and the real discussion will hopefully open a lot of eyes and hearts to Obama. When I vote this time, I am not voting just for myself I am voting for my daughter and Obama's vision for the country is a better world then the one that McCain promises.
This is my first diary entry so hopefully I have not broken too many protocol or rules.