SuperWeed

On the day that Sarah Palin was announced as John McCain’s pick for his running mate, the news channels played a pre-selection clip in which Palin, knowing that she was in the running, complained that she had yet to be told what the Vice President does, implying that is was the McCain campaign’s job to supply that information and explain to her why that job would be worth her precious time. “That’s it,” I thought, “they’ll have to find a graceful way to choose somebody else.” After all, the woman had just admitted not knowing something every high school Civics student is expected to learn. Her comments made it clear that she’d never bothered to learn the basics of our system of government, even after going into government herself. Knowing that she was in the running for Vice President, she never bothered to, say, use one of her PDAs to access Wikipedia and find out what the Vice President does. She seemed to genuinely believe that the job of Vice President might be less worthy of her time than, say, ferrying her son to hockey practice.

And that’s when my heart sunk. Because the only thing Americans seem to love more than their own ignorance is arrogant ignorance. George W. Bush is the grown-up version of the jock who sits in the back of the class, smirking scornfully when asked a question to which he doesn’t know the answer. Like Sarah Palin, he’s got better things to do with his time than learn stupid facts.

And so, when I friend said she was looking forward to seeing “Sarah Palin’s downfall” at the debate tonight, I stopped myself from saying “me too.” Because the people who like her — the people who, like her, believe their own narrow family or local interests rightly trump the interests of everybody else in the world — don’t care that she’s intellectually incurious. They like it that she’s intellectually incurious. They like it even better that she’s proud of being intellectually incurious. They don’t know what “incurious” means and don’t trust anybody who does.

That’s why I don’t laugh off Sarah Palin lightly, however much I might like to scoff at the idea that somebody who can’t name a Supreme Court ruling other than Roe v. Wade could become President of the United States. All of the other kids who weren’t listening in Civics class are on her side. They feel, rightly, that she understands them. They don’t care that she thinks dinosaurs and people populated the earth at the same time. Many of them think that too. They don’t care that she seems to think her state ought to be the center of the world. They feel that way about their hometown too. They’re glad she’ll bring provincialism to the White House. Or, rather, they would if they knew what “provincialism” means.

My friend used to teach high school English in Delaware. One day in class, a young man opined that high school graduates don’t make more money than drop-outs and that college graduates don’t make more money than high school graduates. My friend corrected his errors of fact, explaining that — even though the odd drop-out might make good — high school graduates do, in fact, make more money than drop-outs and that college graduates do make more money than high school students. That night, she received an outraged telephone call from the student’s mother — a police officer, as it happened — chastising her for transgressing her son’s freedom of opinion. No amount of clarification about the difference between opinion and fact would budge this mother from the position that her son had the right to believe whatever he wanted to believe and to say whatever he believed without challenge. The next day, the mother marched into school — in uniform — to file a formal complaint.

That mother will vote for Sarah Palin. Sarah Palin is that mother. Sarah Palin’s style of motherhood resonates deeply with Americans not for the traditional reasons but because they know that she, like them, embraces the right of American children to be profoundly and proudly ignorant of all sorts of facts. She will fight for their right to be know-nothings. She would bomb children in other countries before asking American children to give up even one minute of fun on their snowmobiles.

So, what then? This: McCain was right to pick Palin if his goal was to get elected. But he’d better watch his back if he does. Palin combines GWB’s populist arrogant ignorance with Dick Cheney’s duplicitous vindictiveness. She’s their girl and that’s why she, rather than McCain, has got Bush’s old speech writer and several Bush-Cheney advisers. The people who propelled Bush to power want Palin in the White House. If McCain-Palin wins, I don’t like McCain’s chances of seeing another birthday. Those who love him might want to think about voting Obama.

And this: While McCain couldn’t count on the shadowy operatives who handed Bush the presidency after he lost the election in 2000 (and perhaps also in 2004), Palin can. So, even if the support McCain-Palin gains through her populist appeal doesn’t gain them enough votes to win the election, well, maybe they won’t need enough votes to actually win. If it’s close enough, they might be able to squeeze out a “victory” by other means.

All of which is to say that I fear that the outcome of tonight’s debate won’t matter very much. I dare the American public to prove me wrong.

October 2nd, 2008 | Category: Politics | Subscribe to comments | Leave a comment | Trackback URL