Statistically there is a twenty percent chance that Sarah Palin will have to act as President of the USA someday - a fact based upon presidential history* - or an even greater chance if you also factor in McCain's age, his medical history and his unwillingness to release current medical records. Bearing that in mind, Sarah Palin's interview with Katie Couric is the most terrifying thing I have seen in a long, long time.
And now the McCain campaign has been suspended. The Republican presidential hopeful has rushed to Washington to give everybody a good piece of his mind and instead of letting the VP nominee do her job of stepping in for McCain, he has called off everything for the moment. Although, come to think of it, would you let Palin debate politics with Barack Obama if you were her boss?
Clive Cook's piece was written before the suspension of the campaign but his observation is even more interesting now:
"I do think Obama is handling the crisis much better than McCain--not because he is suggesting better remedies (he continues to say little), but because his instinct to reflect before opening his mouth and his impeccable taste in advisers are both working to his advantage.
These factors I think are much more important than the supposed popularity of standard Democratic positions on economic management. Unlike McCain, Obama offers no instant bold responses, needing to be qualified or withdrawn or forgotten soon after. As ever, he looks calm, methodical and unruffled--and has his picture taken in conference with Paul Volcker, Bob Rubin and Larry Summers, who command wide respect. His response may be thin, so far, on content, but it is an altogether more reassuring posture than his rival's tendency to hasty and exaggerated certainty.
Finally, as a self-identified Humanist, knowing that Palin was somewhat recently blessed to be free from 'witchcraft' is just unfathomable and, again, terrifying.
I'm struggling here, America. I really am.
*according to Lawrence Lessing
