Now that Sarah Palin has returned to Alaska, Barack Obama has turned his focus on getting the country on the right track. The task will be tremendous, the risks will be great. When Sarah Palin was accusing President-elect Obama of palling around with terrorists, there are a few things that he could have said in response.
Join me below for a remake of Mike Douglas' speech from the movie The American President.
President-elect Barack Obama: For the last couple of months, Governor Palin has suggested that being president of this country was, to a certain extent, about character, and although I have not been willing to engage in her attacks on me, I've been in Washington three years, and I can tell you without hesitation: Being President of this country is entirely about character. For the record: yes, I am a card-carrying American. But the more important question is are you, Sarah? Now, we live in a country whose sole purpose is to give Americans an opportunity at life, liberty and pursuit of happiness. Rights, so it naturally begs the question: Why would a governor, her state's most powerful spokesman and a candidate for Vice President, choose to reject upholding the first amendment to the Constitution? If you can answer that question, folks, then you're smarter than I am, because I didn't understand it. America isn't easy. America is advanced citizenship. You gotta want it bad, 'cause it's gonna put up a fight. It's gonna say "You want free speech?
Let's see you acknowledge a man whose words make your blood boil, who's standing center stage and advocating at the top of his lungs that which you would spend a lifetime opposing at the top of yours. You want to claim this land as the land of the free? Then the symbol of your country can't just be a flag; the symbol also has to be one of its citizens exercising his right to burn that flag in protest. Show me that, defend that, celebrate that in your classrooms. Then, you can stand up and sing about the "land of the free". I haven’t known Governor Palin for years, but I've been operating under the assumption that the reason Governor Palin devotes so much time and energy to shouting at the rain was that she simply didn't get it. Well, I was wrong. Governor’s problem isn't that she doesn't get it. Her problem is that she can't sell it!
We have serious problems to solve, and we need serious people to solve them. And whatever our particular problem is, I promise you, Governor Palin is not the least bit interested in solving it. She is interested in two things and two things only: making you afraid of me and telling you who's to blame for it. That, ladies and gentlemen, is how you win elections. You gather a group of middle-aged, middle-class, middle-income, low-information voters who remember with longing an easier time, and you talk to them about family and American values and character. And wave an old photoshopped image of me and you scream about patriotism, call me a Socialist and you tell them, I’m to blame for their lot in life, and you go on television and tell people that I am friends with terrorists. I have done nothing to you, Governor Palin. I have done nothing but put myself through school, raise a family, represent the interests of citizens of Illinois, and fight for better education, gun safety and control of loose nuclear weapons. You don’t want a character debate, Governor Palin. You better go back to Alaska because the office of the Vice President is way out of your league.
I have lost two great women to cancer. My wife is my best friend and the love of my life. I will be silent no more. We've got serious problems, and we need serious people, and if you want to talk about character, Governor Palin, you'd better come at me with more than a photoshopped image. If you want to talk about character and American values, fine. Just tell me where and when, and I'll show up. This is a time for serious people, Governor Palin, and your 15 minutes are up. My name is Barack Obama, and I am the President-elect of the United States.