Well, I watched some more speeches at the Republican Convention tonight. A few observations.
It’s going to be an interesting election. Sarah Palin did a good job with her speech — not a great job, for she’s really not an orator who knows how to build a crowd — but she conveyed her message. Both Gov. Palin and the other speakers did what they need to do: they presented their opponent’s experiences in such as way to make them look bad, turning “Community Organizer” into a slur, and “Chicago Machine” into a curse word. But that’s what they are supposed to do, just as the Democrats attempted to make the Republicans appear to be a clone of the Bush administration.
I am sad, watching this all, that the Republicans (at least) appear to forget that their opponents are Americans as well. During the Democratic convention, there was a lot of talk about how both parties loved their country and wanted the best for it, but had different ways of getting there. During the Republican Convention, there is a lot more demonization: that Democrats (or the horrid L-word — not Lesbian, but Liberal) want America to lose, that they want to hurt America. If we are to move into the future healed, we must all stipulate that we love our country, but perhaps we feel there are different paths to making it successful and strong.
Did the rhetoric convince me of anything? No, primarily because I can never support the social conservatism of the Republican party, nor can I support the strong influence of Christian theology, which came across in the music and the catch phrases and the hidden keywords I detected. I can’t support the McCain-Palin ticket because I don’t agree with their economic approach: although deregulation has had benefits, it has also lead to significant economic problems. I can’t support the McCain-Palin ticket because I believe that we must pursue justice — and that is justice for all — be it straight or gay, man or woman.
There were a lot of misrepresentations of the Democratic position. Both seem to have similar energy policies: both want to expand the use of green energy. The Republicans seem to emphasize offshore drilling more and more use of carbon-based approaches, and certainly more nuclear options, whereas the Democrats focused on newer technologies. The Republicans created the implication that the Democrats wanted to tax everyone; that’s not so, they want to reduce taxes on the vast majority, while increasing them on the weathiest individuals. The Republican approachs seems to be that you can have the government run by cutting spending alone. That won’t work: as anyone who has worked on a budget should know (especially Gov. Palin), you have to bring in income as well as reducing expenses.
Just as the Republicans noted they never heard the Democrats use the words “islamic terrorist”, I noted that the speakers tonight never promised to eliminate the deficit (or even reduce it) or balance the budget. Although the speakers tonight noted the Democrats never talked about victory in Iraq, the Republicans never talked about eliminating the terrorist cells in Afghanistan. The speakers tonight talked strongly about the heroic efforts of our veterans, but never said what they would do to ensure they are given the support and medical attention they need when they return home after their honorable service. Lastly, although the speakers tonight excoriated the Democrats for being tax and spend liberals, they never provided their plan to bring the country out of its current recession.
I don’t like misrepresentation, and there was a fair amount of that tonight. I won’t say that the Democrats didn’t do their share of misrepresentation either, but they did at least acknowledge the strengths of the other side. I believe that is important: you need to be able to see the good in people, as well as their faults, and acknowledge both.
But it will be interesting. I think those who are firmly on one side or the other are not likely to be budged. Conventions, I think, only serve to cement opinions. I think the real battle will be during the debates. Those should be interesting to watch: Obama vs McCain, and Biden vs Palin.
One last note: As Palin brought her family on stage and then McCain came tottering out, how many people thought, “Here comes Grandpa!”. John McCain standing next to Sarah Palin only makes McCain look older. I don’t think Biden standing next to Obama make Obama look younger.
