Debate Not Relate

The scariest thing I hear about the Palin nomination was that she would appeal to voters because they would be able to relate to her and she to them. I get that. There are many places where relatability is key. I am a recovering addict alcoholic and finding another group that relates to my struggles is/was key to my sobriety. When I am at school I find myself grouping with others whose kids share the same issues, interests. People tell me all the time that the More magazine article where I showed what my real body looked like in comparison to the air brushed images most women are fed, was important and made me relatable. That too is great. The problem is I may be relatable and share some of your experiences and concerns but you don't want me as president of United States. Relatability gets you nothing in a complex financial crisis. Relatability doesn't help you understand the Gordian knot of trouble in the Middle East. Relatability doesn't help you untangle the obscenity which is our health care and insurance system and relatability doesn't train the hundreds of thousands of new teachers and repair and rebuild the smashed infrastructure and schools where they work.

I couldn't hold my own for one minute in a debate on any issue with someone like a Barack Obama or Joseph Biden and neither can Sarah Palin. When the call comes at 3AM I want a mind who was at the top of their class, who has gravitas and a real intellect. I want a leader who is a scholar who can hold the history of civilization in his head and will read and learn from the past as he charts the future. Real debates, where issues are explored, are the only way, prior to an election, to get the two candidates and their running mates to share their ideas and plans for the myriad contingencies they will/might face. This isn't a test. We don't get a re-do. This is the hardest time this generation has ever faced and people are all scared about the economy, our health care and mostly our children's futures. That is what millions of Americans and I can relate to.

Comments

[Tracy Saunders - Huffpost Blogger]

Jamie,

I couldn't agree with you more. As a "conservative believer," Palin is not the face of MY politics, which is something I've tried to sort out in my piece "Palin: The Republican's Pin-Up Girl and How We Are Being Manipulated."

http://beyondthepretty.wordpress.com

[swift goat pet for truth]

Do not underestimate Sarah-Barracuda.
She rises to the occasion.

She is smart, tough and ruthless.
She really DID sitting Governor Murkowski, and she DID beat Big Oil, partly because they thought she would be easy.
She is NOT. THEY LOST.

Watch her tonight. She will hit it out of the park.

[sheaintsayin]

How right you were/are. She is a formidable (foul) force, not to be underestimated no matter the horrendously obvious danger she poses for us and the entire world.

[fleaba]

Frankly, the relatablitiy factor of having a daughter who doesn't have access to reproductive freedom isn't something I find compelling.

[cheforacle]

Great post Jamie. I've never known you to post on this site but this is an important message. It was the focus on "relatability" with Bush in 2000 by the media that helped him beat the much more academic and well-versed Gore. McCain's campaign manager said the other day this contest was not about issues but whom the voters can relate to. So Jamie you are fighting an uphill, yet worthy and necessary, battle.

[HowDareU]

Don't sell yourself short, Jamie Leigh…you have far more experience with foreign issues than Ms Palin appears to have. While it's not totally fair (I can think of children I know who have it far more together than many adults…myself included at times!), this is definitely a job where more experience is VITAL.

[dve2z]

the mistake most of us is making is appealing to reasoning.

Reasoning does not matter for anti-intellectuals. And that's what the GOP right-wing base is.

The see Sarah as one of them and they are set in their way. Nothing can dislodge them. Sarah may fail miserably in the debate with Biden. It won't matter.

This election will be won or lost (AGAIN) by standoff between conservative and thinking America.

[Kassandra]

Yeah, but there aren't as many of them as there are of us. They talk loud and have lots of $$, but they are slipping farther and farther from the mainstream all the time. too many sex scandals. I don't RELATE to Palin at all. She gets no points from me as a woman. I watched too many women fight against the feminist movement to give her a bye.

I love you, Jamie! Keep up the good work. It sure takes guts to recover. Good on ya!

[OhAmericaIsWakingUp]

Well said!

Everyone should watch this: Former POW's take on John McCain

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_KjsEs46C70

[haimchaim]

Hey Jamie watch for a very close election vote, with the winner being
a big surprise to you...

[nobamanoway]

A very BIG surprise!!! And you'd better have a case of ACTIVIA on hand when o BOMB a doesn't deliver. Poor Michelle will once again not be proud to be an American.

[Bulldoglover]

The shame of all of this? Is that the McCain campaign cronies know this but they bet on the stupidity of the American public to not think that far into this election.
They will call sexism if Joe Biden "debates" her as he would a man yet they want her to step up to the plate and fill a position that has been nerver been held by anyone other than a man! They are playing games with our future and using a woman to slap us.

[thinkb4uleapII]

They bet on the stupidity of the American public and their ability to manipulate the voting system.

[MPeter]

Thanks Jaimie. What a brilliant article. Indeed, this is no test and we do not get a re-do. Relatability can only take us so far. Before long, we will be grappling with tough issues, particularly if a 72 year-old former POW suffering from PTSD and twice survivor of Melanoma should stop breathing overnight.