In a bizarre contradiction of the petty contempt shown for Barack Obama last night, right-wing bloggers and pundits have been eager to declare Palin's frothing rant a conservative equivalent to Barack Obama's call for unity from 2004. This desperate attempt to associate themselves with the Democratic nominee, of course, only reveals that they still don't get what Obama is all about. Sarah Palin's rant was, in fact, the antithesis to Obama's 2004 debut. Obama's speech was a call to transcend partisanship, an insistence that the culture wars are a fabrication of a corrupted political discourse, and a reaffirmation of the fact that ideology does not have to stand as a barrier between pragmatic solutions and the bread & butter concerns of the American people. Palin's speech, in contrast, was a watered down recapitulation of Pat Buchanan's attempt to divide America against itself and make our nation believe that we are locked in a Manichean struggle between conservative and liberal, red and blue. Palin's was a red meat speech, but it was far from a refutation of Obama's fundamental message.
If Palin had articulated how the culture wars could help Americans meet the tangible, pressing needs of the hour, it would have been an effective counterpoint to Obama's 2004 message. Yet, in a speech consisting of little more than generic attacks on liberal ideology, blatant lies about Barack Obama, and a feeble attempt to equate a job that Palin held just two years ago with a job that Obama held for three years in the mid-80's, Palin revealed the fundamental bankruptcy of the Buchananite approach. Amidst all the red meat, there was no beef, just some freeze-dried substitute, insubstantial and indiscernible from the very political culture that Barack Obama hopes to overcome.
Gnawing at a strawman like some manically defiant crow, Palin responded to none of Obama's actual proposals, acknowledged none of the legislation that he's authored and passed, and offered no respect for a biography far more impressive than that of a middling student who went on to become the divisive and pork-farming mayor of the meth capital of Alaska. Certainly, her speech will produce a visceral emotional response, it's supposed to, and I have no doubt that the Republicans might see a temporary bump. However, rather than blur the difference between more of the same and the change we need, Palin framed the ticket exactly in the terms that Obama wants.
With no positive message to offer America, Republicans can't prevent the already subsiding frenzy of Obama hatred from pivoting to the underlying question of this election: how does this help me and my family?
In the coming days, Obama's task is simple and clear. The election must now be framed in terms of that age old question: "Where's the beef?" As the surrogates roll out and the new ads hit the air, this is the message that Obama must send to the American people:
How will hating Democrats help the economy?
How will hating Democrats provide health care for every American?
How will hating Democrats solve the foreclosure crisis?
How will hating Democrats lower the price of gas?
How will hating Democrats create new jobs?
How will hating Democrats make our trade treaties more beneficial to Americans?
How will hating Democrats secure equal pay for women?
How will hating Democrats make us less dependent on China and the Middle-East?
How will hating Democrats improve our schools?
How will hating Democrats reduce the influence of lobbyists?
How will hating Democrats hurt Al Qaeda in Afghanistan?
How will hating Democrats get our troops out of Iraq?
How will hating Democrats stop nuclear proliferation?
How will hating Democrats restore our frayed alliances?
How will hating Democrats help our troops get a college education?
The answer? It won't.
On January 20th, 2009, Barack Obama may or may not be there for the hard right to despise, but the tangible problems facing all Americans will most certainly remain. The question, then, is whether either party has offered a positive vision for overcoming our collective challenges. The Democrats have passed that test, but last night, the Republicans failed miserably. Instead, gathered in an impenetrable bubble of self-righteous delusion, they made an angry, defiant appeal for four more years of the same.
Sorry Sarah, eight is enough.