Nothing could illustrate the difference between "what is" and "what should be" as the two speeches yesterday, one by Sarah Palin illustrating the partisan small-minded approach and the other Obama’s universally respected and well-received compassionate call for a more civil tone.
Palin made Obama seem bigger and more statesman-like, and for that, she has done us all a service. The trouble is that there’s a small group of ultra-conservatives who get outsized media coverage and for whom Palin speaks. And it isn’t the violent rhetoric, bad as that is, that’s most dangerous (there is no direct link to this troubled mass murderer.) It’s the "Obama is illegitimate, and so is the federal government" strain of ultra-conservatism.
That anyone in this day and age, after governors in his birthplace of Hawaii have said otherwise, can still think that Obama was not born in the U.S. attests to the distance the fringe has to go to reach the center of politics in this country. That anyone can claim with a straight face that he’s a socialist or a closet Muslim or any of the other slurs that routinely make the rounds speaks to the problem that is inappropriate political rhetoric, one that seeks to delegitimize the president of the United States.
Palin speaks to that fringe group, and while she’s got their undying loyalty, she’s lost everyone else. Why does that matter? Because as long as the media obsessively covers every one of her pugnacious tweets, the Dark Side is part of the national conversation. Her ability to inject herself into that conversation (as if yesterday was "all about her") is on display, but that’s hardly the stuff of leadership.
And until I see Palin change, I don’t see things getting much better – except for one thing. As the economy improves, the mood of the public will improve with it. You can already see that in Obama’s poll numbers. And the economy (not Obama, not Palin) remains the most important factor in politics.