Hailed as the Super Bowl of the political arena, expectations were high over the influence Thursday’s VP debate would have on the world we wake up to November 5. The face-off was hyped up to be a bloody clash between a brilliantly skilled orator: Joe Biden, and a rambling yet adorable airhead: Sarah Palin. Palin’s performance was also expected to either make or break McCain’s vies for the White House.
Biden’s track record and recognition with the public speaks for itself. This debate was about Sarah Palin and her ability to establish herself as a viable candidate for the White House.
Palin’s candidacy for the White House was not established, nor did she meet even lowered expectations of political intelligence compared with Senator Biden.
The night began with a question perhaps unintentionally picked up on the mics from Sarah Palin to Biden: “Can I call ya Joe?” This set the tone for the night – and made something in me cringe. It was clear from her question and proven by her performance in the debate that Sarah intended to be casual with Senator Biden and with the American public. At one point when talking about education, she gave a shout out to her brother in Alaska, a teacher, and his third grade class, a tactic pundits said they had never seen employed. The persona she presented to the American public was almost flirtatious – frequently winking, using phrases like “You betcha,” and at one point clucking, “Say it ain’t so, Joe.”
I understand this is her personality, but is the level of fraternity she displays a virtue we wish to export to collaborate with and speak on our behalf to important foreign dignitaries, and to represent important resolutions we will proffer in the world? I think the world and America needs and deserves more cerebral stamina to confront the serious problems we are likely to face in places like Darfur, Afghanistan, and the Middle East, which were central topics Thursday night.
Another concern that should be focused on when the spin rooms are emptied and honest discussion begins, is to take a look at how many sound policy answers Palin offered. I would note that Palin gave no post-presidential debate interviews the week before the debates, which is certainly a new campaign strategy (not tactic!) being employed by the McCain camp.
Perhaps she was busy memorizing McCain’s answers, because the few nuances of policy she mentioned were simply a rehashing of McCain’s words last week.
When asked about a possible achilles heel, Palin posed only her strengths. When asked about taxes and economics, Palin offered simple anecdotes about the average American’s needs and attempted to insert herself into their world, at times hypothesizing about what one such American might say with regard to the topics at hand. She certainly does not speak for me, a product of the middle class. The McCain-Palin tax policy champions “trickle down economics” – policies that have been in practice for the past eight years. Do they work? I think we can all answer that question.
Biden offered policy, facts and solutions. He gave a four-point plan on the Obama exit strategy for Iraq, and was correct in noting that Iraqi Prime Minister Maliki and the Bush Administration are now advocates for this strategy (not tactic!). I was surprised that Obama failed to mention this fact at the presidential debate last week.
Biden spoke about his and Obama’s tested, successful, cohesive tax policy that we know works from the successful $127 billion surplus yielded by the Clinton administration.
Biden spoke about the relationship between middle class Americans and the importance of a progressive tax policy with conviction, at one point choking up when being forced to defend his own background of being a single parent, in lieu of Palin diminishing the authenticity of Biden’s convictions and support for the middle class.
At this point, Palin clearly crossed a line.
What I think the media did not expect about Palin’s performance was the arrogance she displayed. At one point toward the end of the debate, Palin suggested that she and McCain represented “a perfect ideal” of tolerance and democracy. Biden exuded humility, sound intelligence, hope and a powerful example of the value of hard work.
For all of her attempts to criticize Biden for over-emphasizing the Bush administration, she echoed many of Bush’s talking points on democracy, and an adherence to a self-important, egocentric ideology. And I, for one, am tired of the closed-minded, theocratic, elitist politicians that she exemplifies. America desperately needs politicians like Joe Biden. We cannot handle 12 years of George W. Bush; the resulting policies would build the ultimate bridge to nowhere.
That said, if the Palin-McCain ticket does succeed, we may need to take a look at how Alaska endured her governance, because the answer to that question increasingly eludes me.
Stephanie England is an English junior and a Mustang Daily guest columnist.