The Palin Debate: How To Teach An Infant To High Five.

Every parent has done it. "Watch this! She high-fives!" The parent giggles proudly, "She's a genius!" Well, I hate to burst your bubble, but they all high-five. Even my dog has learned to high-five. Which leads me to the obvious....a pit bull can learn to high five.

One conservative journalist said that Palin didn't learn the easy way by going to Harvard, she learned the hard way, on the streets. I guess if I ever need open-heart surgery I won't go to one of those doctors who learned the easy way in medical school. I want someone who learned surgical technique on the streets of Wasilla. Conservatives have long sent their sons and daughters to our greatest universities, but now they've decided to surrender those admirable values in exchange for pandering to the people they endeavor to inspire. The Republican party's contrived contempt and manufactured mistrust of intellect is not only counter to what they've always believed, but is terribly dangerous to the country they claim to put first. To indoctrinate a nation to renounce education and intellect is to shamefully discourage and suppress the very thing that America has not only historically exalted but needs so desperately right now.

They talk of competing in the worlds of science and medicine, technology and economics and yet present us with a presidential candidate who has repeatedly shown and even admitted that he knows very little about such things, has repeatedly voted against funding for education, but will repeat at every opportunity that he is an expert at winning wars, though he's never actually won one. They talk about teaching our children to compete in the global economy and international relations and yet they present us with a vice presidential candidate who has to memorize talking points and cynically condescend to us with winks and "doggonits" in order to conceal her astounding and terrifying lack of genuine knowledge.

Is Sarah Palin really the best and the brightest? Shouldn't a leader inspire us by example, be curious as well as ambitious, humble as well as formidable, gracious as well as robust, and learned as well as knowable? Folksy does not have to mean ignorant, regular does not have to mean ordinary, and earnest does not have to mean frivolous. For an example of this, look at one Joe Biden. To call him a "Washington elitist" or a typical "east coast politician" is to shamelessly insult the type of American we like to claim as unique and special to our nation. Ironically, Joe Biden is the very type of person Sarah Palin aspires to be, a "real American" who tirelessly works for his country, never forgets where he's from, and constantly looks forward to where we should be going. One thing is certain, Sarah Palin is no Joe Biden.

Sarah Palin and those like her do not aspire to transcend anything more than lowered expectations. Her foresight and ambition only reach as high as she tells you to look. The terms "Joe Six Pack" and "Hockey Moms of America" are code for the type of person she assumes won't aspire to anything more than mediocrity. The talent of Sarah Palin is in her ability to charm some with her folksy demeanor while concealing her stunning vacuousness. The obscenity of John McCain is in his selfish willingness to reignite a culture war by attempting to provide someone like Sarah Palin entree to an office that she should only see from the other side of the velvet rope on the White House tour.

Last night's debate was a David and Goliath match-up. Not because Joe Biden is a towering and formidable foe to a less-prepared civilian. Look again and tell me if you can tell the hero from the monster. Need some help? Goliath is the one who is condescending, arrogant, sarcastic, combative, insulting, childish, patronizing, untruthful and divisive. The monster doesn't lead, it misleads. It doesn't inspire, it frightens. It doesn't protect, it provokes. The monster is what has dominated us for eight long years. Sarah Palin is just the brand new model.

The monster marches and devours and never sleeps and it can only be defeated by its opposite: Hope, Courage, Knowledge, Kindness, and Grace. Those are the traits we saw in Joe Biden last night. They're the traits we see in Barack Obama. But most importantly, those are the traits they see in us.

Read more reactions to the Biden-Palin Vice Presidential debate from HuffPost bloggers

Comments

[lgmurphy]

I could not have put it better! Here we are, so disrespected by the world and yet willing to put up leaders those who will only make matters worse. HOpefully we can get back on the road to greatness and show our children how it must be done. We deserve to be the great nation we claim to be, but we can't just say it, we must make it so. Can you believe a candidate for the highest position in the country, boasting of his poor performance in school, lacking skills of diplomacy, lacking manners and downright proud. Only we can put a stop to this.

[jennyjen]

What a terrific post. What a daring concept. Hmmmm. Encourage the American voters to be brave enough to reach higher. You are one of my favorite bloggers and I hope you will be very active over the next month.

What a new low we reached this election when Obama was called an elitist for being a Harvard graduate and for eating arugula. Ok so let's vote for a couple of schoolyard bullies instead of an arugula eating elitist. Am I the only one who sees Grandpa Simpson whenever McCain starts talking?

After this election is over a few words need to be purged from politics - starting with elitist and maverick. I never ever want to hear those two words again.

[kamnees]

Michael,

I am moved beyound words! As one blogger previously noted, I found the article I have been searching for all day to express what I felt after wathcing and rewatching that debate into the wee hours of the morning. There is nothing more that can be added or taken away from this excellent article!

May God bless you - please contine writing!!

[lola85]

Thank you for so clearly articulating what so many of us see and feel.

Obama/Biden '08
Keep HOPE alive

[PeaceOnEarth62]

Wow. What a soul pleaser! Thank you for your excellent writing!

Hey, maybe it's because I'm a child of the 60's and I remember very well the values that my parents taught me. Joe Biden seems sooooooo familiar to me. I was drawn to him from the very first time I discovered him. I followed him when he was working on the violence against women bills. It's a hate crime, you know. It's still a "man's world" whether we want to admit it or not.

Biden is like a favorite uncle. The one that you can't wait to see on holidays and love to bask in the glow of his genuine smile. The one that let you sit on his lap and talk away without shooing you off. There truly is something to be said and admired about Joe Biden and Barack Obama. His family is obviously so proud. Obama is like the favorite cousin. The one who is smart and travels and shares all his ideas and adventures with the family. The one's we all look up to and aspire to be.

I really love the ending of your piece: "The monster marches and devours and never sleeps and it can only be defeated by its opposite: Hope, Courage, Knowledge, Kindness, and Grace. Those are the traits we saw in Joe Biden last night. They're the traits we see in Barack Obama. But most importantly, those are the traits they see in us."

[uscitizen]

Voting has become easy. Just choose the person who actually pronounces the full "ing" on words and also knows how to say nuclear.

[klondiker]

"I don't know when the Republican Party stopped being the party of merit and excellence....I genuinely feel sorry for [deleted]. I'm sure she's a lovely woman, brighter than average, and well-qualified for many important jobs. Just not the job [deleted] has nominated her for. The terrible thing [deleted] has done to [deleted] is to force people who care about the country to say that."

-----

Ann Coulter wrote this a few years ago about....Harriet Miers!

I wonder where the conservative outrage is now against someone who is so obviously unqualified for the position. More unqualified than Harriet Miers ever was.

[fedupinfla]

I hate to admit this but once upon a time when I was much younger and desperate for a decent paying job, I bullsh!tted my way through a job interview that I KNEW I wasn't fully qualified for. I padded my resume and gave all the right answers to the interviewers questions fully expecting to be called out as unqualified. I came across as confident and experienced when I knew in my heart that I wasn't prepared for the position. This was a simple restaurant mgrs. position I might add. Imagine my surprise when I was actually hired and expected to perform the way I claimed I could!! Needless to say, I couldn't and I was fired for "not meeting company expectations". I'm a lot older now and I now have the experience I claimed I did back then. I also have an inate ability to smell the same BS I tried pulling all those years ago....And boy does something STINK about Palin. Its a smell I remember quite well....Un­fortunatel­y, once she's "hired", there won't be that same performance review and it'll be 4yrs before she can be "fired". Imagine the damage that she can do in that time!!!

[obamagal]

This article needs to be printed in newspapers, nation-wide. It's vitally important. (Please).

[PeaceOnEarth62]

I agree. Nobel Prize material.

[omaro]

Absolutely the best, most insightful post I've read about this contest. Thank you.

[keepersdream]

A compelling read, speaks to the depth of a true leader. It stirs my soul.
thank you, for all the young people who can strive through reflection, a thirst for knowledge,
the ability to think critically, listen, dialogue and read. Study is a discipline. Communication is an art.
Compassion is our compass.

[obamagal]

Fabulous, stellar, outstanding. WOW!

[Bajangal]

that was an EXCELLENT article. You have expressed in a most articulate and thoughtful way the absolute truth of the matter.

Thank You!

[renoir]

Wow. I've been reading site after blog after article after review and listening to the radio all day long searching for the perspective that speaks my disgust and alarm... and this spoke the most eloquently and elegantly regarding what we all witnessed last night... and I'm grateful that I can quit reading now! I'm exhausted by the spin and grateful for your words. Thanks so much for this brilliant post.

[obamagal]

Ditto.

[Sandahl]

DITTO!!!

[JodyMcg]

That was just the post fix I needed. I can't believe we have lowered our expectations.... to this new low. Then again I taught K-12 in NC and I see lowered expectations from some parents of their children, from parents of their child's teacher, from the hierarchy of the school administration on down. Each year they make standardized tests easier and pass more unqualified students at each grade level. When I see Palin I realize she is just a product of our public school system. The Republicans have cut teacher's salaries (their reward should be in a paycheck NOT in heaven) and one has to wonder if that party systematically assists in the dumbing down of American. If you can't think critically you can watch Fox all day long,. If you can't think critically you won't think there is anything wrong with Palin on the ticket. Many foreign govts. rely on this policy of keeping peasants ignorant. We too are becoming ignorant peasants.

[LynneNY]

Michael...My God in heaven what a superbly written piece.
You are abolutely so dead on correct..I cannot believe it.
I feel so happy tonight to have come in here and read this post.
Your analogy ....THE MONSTER...­.ah.....lo­ved it.
LOVED it all, Michael.

THANK YOU SO MUCH.

[cookiesuzie]

Michael Seitzman,

I love you!