It's hard to believe that the post I wrote about McCain's selection of Palin (The VP Choice that Lost the Presidency for John McCain) was only 3 weeks ago! The moment he made his announcement, I felt it was a very bad choice, but I had no idea there would be such an outpouring of rage, confusion, support, opposition -- just pure emotion on every side.
Think about what has happened in the past three weeks and what we have learned (and not all from the mainstream media):
1. There have been hundreds of posts on Huffington about Palin (several of them by me), so many she now has her own big news page.
2. Palin's term as Mayor of Wasilla was marked by an increase in taxes and a town left with a deficit for a sports complex that is still not paid for.
3. We found out that Palin's daughter is pregnant, out of wedlock, to a self-described redneck.
4. We learned Palin can deliver a heck of a speech but tends to give the same one over and over.
5. We now know more about the Bridge to Nowhere and aerial killing of wolves than we ever wanted to know.
6. Trooper-gate has stayed in the news, partially because of the stonewalling by the McCains and Palins.
7. Palin has been interviewed only twice -- one by Charlie Gibson of ABC News and one by Sean Hannity of Fox News. Both interviews revelead a woman who is over-confident in the manner of George Bush and proudly claims she does not blink at much of anything.
8. Some women have embraced Palin but many have not.
9. Palin's views are more extreme than John McCain's.
10. Sarah Palin surged in the polls and then has fallen back.
I could list 20 more things that we have learned that make it even more frightening to think about a Sarah Palin as VP and possibly President.
But in the time that we have devoted to a person who has almost no understanding of the world outside Alaska, think about what has been happening in the world that has NOT been covered!
1. There have been a major hurricane that destroyed whole communities on the Gulf Coast.
2. The stock market is in free fall and many fear the loss of their retirement savings.
3. Mbeki of South Africa has been forced to resign and Mugabe has been forced to power share with his rival Tsvangirai
4. Half of the world's population is at risk of malaria, and children are dying as I write this post.
5. Fifty-three people died in the terrorist bombing of the Marriott Hotel in Pakistan.
And I could list another 100 major pieces of breaking news that have nothing to do with this election or with McCain or Sarah Palin.
The sequel to my initial piece is just this -- we will probably conclude that the tanking of the economy was the prime reason why McCain lost this election. But we should also blame ourselves and the media for taking our eye off the ball -- and allowing ourselves to forget what is really important this year -- electing a President, Barack Obama, who can restore our economy and our standing in the world. Who, if he can clean up the mess the Republicans have left us with, has a chance of starting to solve some of our biggest problems -- and those problems have nothing to do with Sarah Palin!