Correctly Impolitic

The phone rang and I hesitated to answer it because it was usually a press person wanting me to do them a favor. “I’m just going to let it ring”, I said, trying to avoid the inevitable—more press aggravation. And then I heard someone yelling, “Jacobson, for God’s sake pick up the phone – you’re not going to believe who wants to talk to you.” We were in Philadelphia for the Udall Presidential campaign and it seemed no one of any importance wanted to talk to us—everyone wanted to talk to Jimmy Carter or Scoop Jackson.

“OK, I’ll answer it but it better be good or you’re a dead man”. It’s so long ago I don’t remember who I was talking to but I remember what I said because I was not happy about having to talk to anyone. The campaign was out of money and I was trying to put together a press schedule (a day of activities) which cost us nothing. It was not pretty.

“What?”, I said in my most unpleasant highly trained voice. “Who is this and what do you want?”

“Well, I was thinking I’d like to do some events with the Congressman. I like him a great deal and if I can be of any help, I’m happy to do whatever I can.”

The voice sounded vaguely familiar, and I figured it was yet another one of a hundred Congressional people who loved Mo and were willing to travel anywhere to do whatever they could to save the campaign. In fact, I had just been to talking to Shirley Chisholm who had promised us a whole day.

“That’s fine”, I said but what what’s your expertise. What kind of event do you want to do?” My tone was a little lighter because all of these people were friends of the candidates and I didn’t want anyone to tell him that I was either difficult or rude.
“I thought he might like to play pool with me”. The voice was becoming more familiar. “Gee” I said—because I thought ‘golly gee’ sounded infantile, “I don’t know if the Congressman plays pool. Is there anything else the two of you could do?”

“I don’t know”, he answered. “I’m here shooting a movie about pool, so I thought that might be interesting”. And then I realized who was on the other end of the phone.
“Oh, Mr. Newman, I’m sure Mo would be happy to do whatever works for you.”

“You can call me Paul”, he said. “And what should I call you?”
I couldn’t remember my name. I stuttered and then blurted—“Jacobson. You can call me Iris or Jacobson or whichever you prefer”. He laughed and said, “Hey Jacobson, what’s doin…?”

It was 1976 and Paul Newman was in Philadelphia shooting “The Hustler”. He had decided that Mo Udall was his candidate of choice and he was going to help us by doing an event with the candidate. For a campaign out of money, short on staff, and without much of a following, it was a blessing.

“Here’s the thing” he said, “I don’t want to have to talk to a lot of people and I don’t want this to be complicated. So I’m only going to talk to you about any arrangements and we’ll figure out how this is going to work. Does that work for you?”

“Sure thing”, I said still recovering from not remembering my name. And for the next week, Paul Newman called the campaign headquarters everyday—sometimes more than once and asked for me. When I got on the phone he’d say, “Hey Jacobson what’s doin…?” and my heart would stop. Actually it stopped when whoever told me he was on the phone and it would start again about an hour after we concluded our business. We became best phone friends but much to my disappointment, we never met in person.

We worked out all the details and Mo and Paul finally did a shoot pool event. We got some attention and raised a few dollars and it was over much to soon for my liking. But the campaign went on and when we were in New York for the convention and final concession speech, we went to an event where I finally met Paul Newman. “Mr. Newman”, I said looking into his incredible blue eyes, “I wanted to introduce myself, I’m Iris Jacobson.” He looked at me, smiled, shook my hand, said it was nice to meet me, turned his back and walked over to meet someone else. I was devastated. Surely I couldn’t have been that easily forgettable, I thought. I sulked around the room until I finally realized what the problem was. I walked back over to him. “Paul”, I said, “I wanted to introduce myself in a different way. I’m hey Jacobson what’s doing from Philadelphia.”

“Hey Jacobson, what’s doin…?” he shouted. And he picked me up, gave me a big hug and we spent a whole bunch of time talking about politics and nothing. What a joy.
Over the years I would run into my phone friend at political events and reintroduce myself as Hey Jacobson what’s doin…?” and he always pretended to remember who I was. I like to think that maybe he actually did. Paul Newman died yesterday and I, like so many other fans mourn the loss. It is with sadness and gratitude that “Hey Jacobson what’s doin…?”  bids you a fond and loving goodbye.

Yesterday. When David Gergen and I sat at the adult end of the situation room table (this is how the younger, or at least, less experienced folk who worked in the White House, talked about our end of the table), we often had a chance to talk about the politics of the White House and politics in general.  Since David had been in three White Houses—Republican and Democratic, and I had only served Democratic President’s, I listened intently to cross political party rhetoric and agreed with him on most points. The first of which was about the “pig with lipstick” because politics—no matter party—is still politics no matter if you try to dress it up (a pig) and call it politics or leadership.  Anyway, David and I had lots of opportunity to talk about how we were going to deal (from a communication perspective) with the domestic and international crisis that the Clinton administration faced. So last night, when I heard David talking about the McCain ploy of suspending his campaign to lead his party into the White House and solve the financial crisis, I agreed that David was right  when he indicated  it was all yet another political ploy – the proverbial pig in lipstick –or if you are appalled by porcine analogies,  just window dressing to try and parlay the McCain campaign into a better place.

It backfired because McCain doesn’t have the support of people in his own party.  It backfired because he had no place trying to step on Chris Dodd and John Boehner.  He had no role, so in desperation he asked the President to call yet another meeting – or what turned out be a photo op – to showcase his importance.  He said the problem was so serious he was suspending campaign operations to rush back to Washington – but he’s not on the banking committee and all he did was interfere with the on going negotiations that were  apparently on their way to working.  Shame on him and woe is us.

Today.  What a surprise, John McCain has decided to go to the debate. It was really never a question. In the old days we would have had chickens out wherever  McCain happened to be but everyone knew McCain would never allow Obama to appear as a solo speaker.  Which brings us to the debate. McCain says our best days are ahead of us. Well that’s easy to say if you have seven homes and a wife with a multi million dollar a year income.  But what if you don’t. What if you’re a single mother or a working parent trying to pay college tuition or an elderly person with no health insurance or no way to pay for a place to live.  MCain is still talking about a 300 billion dollar tax cut for people who also have seven homes. What about the rest of us?   I’m listening to the blah blah blah of the debate and I’m hearing that Obama wants to make sure people have health care, can afford  education and wants  taxes on corporations who are already making millions of dollars.  John McCain wants to give more money to his friends and tax health care benefits.  Oh My.

I just don’t know who is telling the truth.  McCain says look at the record and so I did. MCain has never voted for any taxes incentives for alternative energy sources.  McCain has given tax breaks for oil companies, the drill, drill drill – much like the blah blah blah – I can’t understand the foggy explanations.

On a more humorous note… Wait, I’ll find one.  OK, John McCain voted 90% of the time with George Bush, but now he says, “I’m  maverick and people know it”.  Is that a good thing—well whatever it’s pretty funny.  “We are winning the war, we love the surge”, that’s pretty funny. We can fight more wars and we can win them.”  I’m doubled over. “War is good—let’s have more.”   He says,” there is a difference between a tactics and a strategy”.  Why am I not laughing.

Oye.  Obama says it’s not funny,  4000 lost lives, a resurgence of Al Queda, billions of dollars in foolish and wasteful spending and a war we should never have been in. The core issue is a surge that (might be working) but it covered up years of loss and waste. We need to end the war in a responsible way.  Sounds pretty good to me.

I have had to fast forward through some of the things on the debate that really piss me off – because, to be honest I know nothing about war and I’m looking for humor.  Here’s the bottom line, as they say.  McCain is old think—traditional war, fight to the death, we won’t come home in defeat, don’t tell any secrets, let the military guys make political decisions.  He uses his stump speech to make points (boring!). Obama is the future—let’s make our decisions based on the reality of today, let’s fight with the people who are really a danger, let’s not just keep sending our young people to places where they don’t need to die, how do we make good judgments to prevent war.   And neither of them knew the difference between the Republican guard and the Revolutionary guard – so let’s move on.

It’s getting harder to have a sense of humor about this candidate confrontation so lets turn look at something more amusing, the financial crisis—no agreement, no guarantee that any of us will have a home tomorrow, no way the Republican house is ever going to like John McCain.  This is not funny so I guess I’ll have to write on another day—maybe   tomorrow if the rain stops and the leaves change color.  Afterall, whatever else happens and doesn’t change, we will always have change in the seasons.

Yesterday I was with a friend who works for a Democratic Senator.  We were talking about the multitudes of crisis which face our country.  And I was surprised when she confessed that until McCain (or whoever—probably not McCain) selected Sarah Palin as his running mate, she was not going to vote.  So I guess you think that Sarah Palin being a woman made all the difference in the world and now she has had some kind of “kitbitka” (you remember that’s a word that means an old small Russian wagon but we thought it sounded like “a miraculous recovery” so we changed the definition — and she’s going to vote for the Republican ticket.  Quite the contrary.  She will vote for Obama because she will not vote for someone who believes in creationism, eliminating Roe vs Wade, goes to a church where they speak in tongues, and shoots helpless animals for sport from a helicopter.  She confessed, “I’m sorry to say that I don’t really like either candidate as a possible President. I simply don’t think either is prepared to be the  leader we need today.  But how, in this day and age can you vote for two people so out of touch with what’s going on in this country –culturally and technologically”.

Oye Vey!   In Elizabeth Drew’s essay,  “How John McCain lost me” she lists many reasons why she is no longer supporting her old friend.  All the reasons are insightful, but I found this among the most interesting:
McCain’s recent conduct of his campaign – his willingness to lie repeatedly (including in his acceptance speech) and to play Russian roulette with the vice-presidency, in order to fulfill his long-held ambition  has reinforced my earlier, and growing, sense that John McCain is not  a principled man.  In fact, it’s not clear who he is.

When I read this kind of stuff  I find it incredibly upsetting, so let’s talk about the Emmy’s and who was the best and worst dressed.  Now there’s something I can sink my teeth into.  I do remember what some of them were wearing, now if only I could remember some of the names of the celebs. I’ll try.   I know there was a short dark haired woman who kept hiking up her dress and I know that this same woman had to take a golf cart from the parking lot to the event because someone screwed up her limo.  Can you imagine. It’s your worst nightmare.  And I know that sparkles, or maybe it’s sequins , no it’s metallic fabric is back in.  But in my closet it never went out.  Oh, and both the Daily and Colbert shows won because they are funny and in fact, they are the places where most people under thirty get their political news—papers, magazines, and TV news are just not cool and too much work.   Alex Baldwin is also Emmy award winning funny,  but not in the same way.  He’s kind of mean funny — but likeable.  Mean appears to be the new nice. “Mad Men” was best drama, “30 Rock” was best comedy (but only on TV, in reality it’s just another  GE media business.  And someone named Bryan won for something called “Breaking Bad”, which I’ve never seen.  But then I’ve never seen “Lost” or “Gray’s Anatomy” or “Survivor”.  I’m kind of a “Cold Case”, “Bones” and “House” girl.  I wonder what that means?

That was a refreshing break from the hum drum of politics.  So where were we.  There is a PBS poll on the internet that asks if Sarah Palin is qualified.  It will come as no surprise that the numbers suggest she is – or the Republican technology is better than the Democratic technology.  But I love a good survey almost as much as a good piece of cake or a vanilla malt, so I think I’ll spend most of my time exploring food instead of polls. John McCain has changed his mind several times about the bail out.  Barack Obama has not really talked about it. Sarah Palin is cute, still has nice glasses and doesn’t ever leave the script.  (Hey, Jordan is good at reading a script, so I guess she could be President).  And Joe Biden is in some blue collar place probably yelling at someone with a blue collar.  That pretty much brings us all up to date.  Let’s talk about something far more interesting, like the wedding I went to this weekend.  My niece Nora got married to a wonderful man named Bryan who is a successful entrepreneur.  Thank God neither of them is employed by any stock related enterprise.  She looked beautiful and they worship one another.  The wedding was in a lovely space, all redesigned to meet their needs and the food was both elegant and creative – my favorite was the NJ diner table at cocktails preceding the dinner.  The bride wore white, the groom wore a tux and the bridesmaids were in black with every dress being different –one even sparkled. It was a refreshing break from talk of the financial crisis, the gas crisis, the housing crisis, the war, and the election.  As I watched these two wonderful people share their vows, I couldn’t help but wonder what kind of a world they will grow old in and what the lives of their children would be.  Then I thought—stop that foolish troublesome thinking and go get a piece of cake.

Somewhere between two and three years ago we produced a documentary called “The Gefilte fish Chronicles”, which you can learn about on our website who’s URl is
www.gefiltefishchronicles.com. Soon after we completed the “Chronicles”  video, I wrote a cookbook cleverly called “The Gefilte Fish Chronicles Companion Cookbook”.  Or as I like to think of it, cooking from all the brown food groups.  So what does this have to do with the sad state of politics. Absolutely nothing—which is precisely why it’s important.

What I have come to realize, in the past two days is that Obama can’t get beyond the Sarah Palin stuff because he is too self conscious about it. The truth is that when the Republicans say that asking Sarah questions, or even more importantly questioning her credentials is disrespectful, it is the most sexist action any guy can take.  It’s like saying, “Don’t pick on the girl.  Especially not one in glasses”. It’s so interesting to watch McCain put her out in front, like if a punch is going to get thrown, it won’t get thrown at the girl in the glasses,

Before I get back to the brown food groups, I wanted to share a story.  In 1992 we had a small but effective campaign that paralleled the official Clinton campaign. For lack of a better name we called ourselves the WAT squad—in response to Rich Bond’s speech at the Republican convention where he intimated that Democrats were not Americans.  So our campaign was called ‘We’re Americans Too’.  While the Clinton campaign was designed to tell the public why Clinton should be President, we concentrated on issues of character and pointed out why President Bush One, shouldn’t be President. Clinton fought back but we reinforced questions of character.  I think I’ve mentioned this before.  Anyway, we were quite successful and at one point  President Bush had conversation (on the 7pm news) with a person dressed as a very large chicken.  The chicken was, at first, a comment on the President’s refusal to debate— the chicken sent a message about courage.  Then we transitioned to Pinocchios to send a message about the truth, witches  indicated that you never knew which answer you would get from the Commander in Chief. There were also a host of other costumed characters or signs or t-shirts (like free Levi Johnston) or banners (my personal favorite a 40’ banner that said “pants on fire”, which I still have) and much more humorous paraphernalia  that sent messages about the economy, health care, education, etc.  Among my favorite of all the events we coordinated was the Harry Truman Truth Squad, ,which usually consisted of 50-100 people simply holding a black and white mask of the former President’s face in front of their faces.  Yes, it was eerie and very effective to see that many people in a silent vigil indicating that the truth was missing in whatever the President or Vice President said.

The other night I heard some pundits talking about the 1992 Clinton campaign. They were trying to figure out why that campaign was so successful.  I was at home with David screaming at the TV “Because he had us!”  Unfortunately, we are not part of the Obama effort. They could really us  — especially the Harry Truman Truth Squad to make a point about the lies and distortions the McCain campaign is using in commercials. I guess power does corrupt because there seems to be no limit to the level McCain will sink to win this election.

In 2004 People thought Bush should be reelected because he would be a great guy to with whom to have a beer.  Kerry was much to removed, remote  — and no one thought he even knew how to order a beer.  It’s easy to forget the issues when you’re thinking about a drink or digging your way out of  a campaign of character assassination.  It’s easy to forget the issues when you are excited by an idea – like a woman as the Vice President. It’s only not easy to forget about the issues when you lose your house, can’t pay for gas, and have no health care.  But unless the Obama campaign starts to define the terms of the election—we’ll all be wondering why were satisfied about by the idea of a beer with someone who will never buy us a beer.

Which brings us back to the brown food groups.  Beer is one of the brown food groups.  There are others, all of which can be found at the Cracker Barrel restaurants. I guess this is a day for confessions because I am about to confess yet another secret.  In my car there is a national Crack Barrel map. This means that no matter where I am, I can see if it’s possible to be anywhere near  brown food group heaven and to be sent into brown food group ecstasy.  There is absolutely nothing better then fried chicken, catfish, steak, with mashed potatoes, macaroni and cheese, grits, biscuits and eggs.  Yes, all at the same time.  Sometimes I think that if I eat myself into a stupor, when I recover, the politics won’t be as painful.  Or I think I’ll just get in my car and drive to every Cracker Barrel in the country and by the time that’s completed another four years will have passed.  And then I think, I can’t afford the gas—internal or external.

Is Wassila really middle America? Not according to crime and substance abuse statistics.  And although this can be substantiated by the “National Enquirer” it is also part of the Wassila crime records—which are all over the internet and can be verified. Here’s something I don’t understand, all these middle class, middle American women say Sarah  is someone to whom they can relate.  I am a kid from a small town in New Jersey— and despite my years in Washington – still very middle American. But I (like so many of my middle class sisters) don’t shoot wolves from a helicopter.  I don’t speak in tongues.  And I don’t want anyone telling me or my daughter what she can do with her uterus.

This morning I was watching the Today Show.  Well, actually I was walking by the TV and it was on and I wanted to see if it was raining in NY.   There is always a crowd outside and the hosts often make conversation with them.  I don’t remember who it was that spotted a woman in the crowd who looked just like Sarah Palin.  And much to everyone’s surprise she was from Wassila, Alaska. They were all amused and discovered that this woman and Sarah have pedicures in the same place. (It is Wassila, how many places could there be?)  I watched for only another moment and then my heart stopped.  “My God”, I thought, “there is more than one Sarah Palin.  I hope this Sarah double is not part  of the God’s will she talks about so frequently.  Even more frightening is the possibility that maybe Wassila is the place the Stepford wives migrated to when they were driven out of Connecticut. Scary huh?

On another matter that has been discussed even by me. There is a Wall Street Journal article, http://online.wsj.com/article/SB122098339946615609.html?mod=Best+of+the+Web+Today

that address the issue of censorship in the Wassila library.  It seems that some people reported that Palin tried to have books with questionable language banned from the library.  This did not happen. Palin merely made inquiries about whether or not books could be banned.  Whoever started the rumor did not check their “Harry Potter” dates and some of those books were not even published when Palin was Mayor.  It’s not a crime for elected officials to ask questions about censorship – it’s just dumb.  And it’s not a crime for bloggers to make up information – that is also just dumb.  So my feeling about the whole incident and the reporting about it was, as my mother always said “smart, smart, stupid” – you figure it out.  And I guess, as long as we’re talking about truth in journalism, I should admit that when the Delta Shuttle offered free newspapers and magazines to their customers, I always picked up all the Wall,Street Journals and threw them in the trash. Some blobbers are incredibly rash and opinionated.

Now back to the Stepford wives. Or maybe back to when my heart stopped.  I, like so many other people (regardless of party) have been wondering why the Obama campaign is allowing the McCain campaign to ‘swift boat’ them with accusations, innuendo, outunnendo, pigs and lipstick.  Even Tory Clark, former Press Secretary to Donald Rumsfeld, who wrote a book called “Lipstick on a Pig”, had the chutzpah to say something like “anyone who was paying attention for the last week knows Sarah Palin owns lipstick”. Oh yeah, then what about Revlon and Mac, and Kiehl’s?  Forget Kiehl’s, they make creams.  Does she not understand that in order to promote her book she needs to own lipstick?  Hey, maybe Tory wrote the speech and used  the line in order to promote her book.  That would certainly be Republican genius – let’s give credit whether due or not.

The campaign rhetoric needs to move away from animals and make-up and toward the issues. People can’t afford health care for themselves or their families. They can’t afford the mortgages on  their homes. They can’t buy gas for their cars.  They don’t want to send their children to war.  I yearn for the days of “It’s the economy stupid.”  I want Barack Obama not ever to mention Sarah Palin again, but rather to challenge John McCain to a duel—at sunrise, or maybe at “High Noon”.  But instead of using a gun or a sword I want him to use words and say, “sticks and stones can break my bones but I’m not going to let you tell anymore lies about who I am or who you are.  Let’s look at voting records and visions. Let’s ask the voters to look at the future.  Let’s ask the people to open their pocketbooks as well as their hearts to see what’s inside and then cast their vote.”

What do we know about Levi Johnston? We saw him up on the podium at the Republican Convention chewing gum and looking adorable.  If I was seventeen and living in Wassila, Alaska, he would certainly be on my list of possible boyfriends.  Handsome, hockey playing jock… oh yeah! But look where he is today. Holding a Downs syndrome four month old  — in front of the country, for the cameras, and holding the hand of his childhood beloved (and lest we not forget, they are children), to make a point about how wonderful a father and husband he will be.

Let’s just say that Levi Johnston has no choice but to marry the mother of his unborn child.  We’re assuming this, but he obviously doesn’t have a choice.  The good Governor and the Republican party took the kid’s “My Space” page down because it said he didn’t ever want to have children.  Now isn’t that a surprise?  This eighteen year old baby doesn’t want to have a baby - let me rephrase.  This eighteen year old baby didn’t want to have a baby, until his soon to be mother-in-law was selected to be the Vice Presidential candidate on the Republican ticket.

When our pit bull - and that is what she calls herself-made the announcement about how she and Todd were delighted to be grandparents (they were also high school sweethearts), she failed to mention that, as Governor she line-item vetoed funding that would help other young single women support their unborn children.  But when it comes to funding and legislation the McCain/Palin team seem to forget about individual needs.  They talk in the greater scheme of things. (It’s so much easier when it’s not personal or rather inconvenient).  Like we want clean air and water but we won’t fund it, just drill, drill, drill.  We want a better education for our kids-if only those selfish teachers would sacrifice some salary. We want the veterans to be cared for-but not enough to pay for it. And in this case, we want women to choose to give birth rather than have an abortion, but we can’t be responsible for those kids. After all, the pregnancy was about their irresponsible immoral behavior. Oh, but not our kids.  Our kids are different.  They made a choice to get pregnant, have the baby, and marry.  Or was it hot love in the backseat, no thought of consequences, uh oh a baby, what to do now that it is a national scandal. And by the way, we have the means to take care of our kids.  We are happy, happy, happy — so screw those other people (who we insisted carry those babies to term even in the case of rape or incest).  But I digress-which we all know I am prone to do when I’m on a tear.

Levi, poor gum-chewing, adorable, obviously virile,  Levi.  When I watched this young man twitching on the stage it took me back to a time when marrying the pregnant girlfriend, was the right thing to do - unless the girl was a whore.  And really, most of “those” girls were “bad” girls. They grew up with little supervision and absolutely no morals. But time marched on and things changed. “Good” girls got pregnant, school systems accommodated the pregnancies, boys, and I mean boys, were not forced into marriages that were short term (in this case my guess is until the ticket is defeated or the baby is born), and would make everyone miserable.

They have been “seeing” each other,  “going out” for about a year.  I remember when Jordan would say, “Tony (high school boyfriend) and I are going out” and I would ask where they were going.  It was not, in her mind or mine, as much about the person as the actual place. We all go out - for a bite, to a movie, to the bowling alley, or to a place where we can make out.   We do not expect to have to marry anyone as a consequence of doing any of these things.  I’m sure getting married, and certainly having a baby were not in his present time life plan.  But now he is saddled with these serious responsibilities that will play out on a national stage.

So here’s what we should do.  We need to start a Free Levi Johnston campaign.  We all need to vote for Obama so that there will be no need for him to marry Bristol Palin. The grandparents will take care of the baby and Levi can go play hockey, drop by for visiting privileges, and have a normal life.  At some point if he chooses to marry Bristol, so be it.  But right now, let’s help free this kid from the clutches of the pit bull, the Party, and all the pundits.  Please, join the campaign to save Levi Johnston!

Do we really want the President to be just like us? For my part, I do not. Maybe I’m not a good example because, although incredibly smart and intuitive, some think me a bit zany. But do we want the President or the Vice President to be “just plain folk?” We seemed to like it when Jimmy and Rosalyn got out of their secure vehicle and marched down Constitution Avenue, (some of the crack Carter staff were holed up in a warm, comfortable townhouse on Capital Hill), but it was downhill after that. We liked Jimmy Carter, but we didn’t want an “us” running the country, we wanted someone who we could aspire to be—like the wealthy and not so ordinary Ronald Reagan. (This is in no way an endorsement of that Presidency, it is simply a fact.)

When Sarah Palin says she’s ‘just a soccer Mom with kids,’ I think that’s swell. And if ever I knew a kid who happened to live in Alaska and wanted to play soccer, I’d want her to be screaming “kill, kill” on the sidelines. I do not however, want her to be screaming “kill, kill” from the West Wing. We’ve had too much of that already. And by the way, as Governor, she chose for her child to carry a baby to term, but she line-item vetoed funds for other single young women, whose parents couldn’t support them, to care for the children they chose to keep.

In addition, and regardless of the size of her budget as Mayor, or 16 months of being a Governor, her experience is small town, small and unusual State, (they have a surplus of money from oils revenues) neither bears a resemblance to what it takes to govern the United States. You may say that Bill Clinton was the Governor of a small State and look how great he was (the same people who think she’s great, won’t give Bill the same credit.) But he was also a Rhodes Scholar who had traveled quite a bit and lived abroad and had been a Governor for more than a year. True, he didn’t sell the plane on e-Bay, which some might think is fiscally conservative, but as cute as that is, it shows that she never needed to have a plane at her disposal for any international or national emergency and she doesn’t care how inconvenient it is for “just plain folk” when a Governor and all their security need to travel anywhere. Or maybe there have been no threats on her life because she was that unimportant. (And I mean that in the nicest possible way).

John McCain is not just like us — an ordinary person, so you might think I have no issues about his candidacy. Of course, you would be wrong. I would have no problems with John McCain if the list he presented as all the things he would do, did include some of the things he has already supported. Like increased health care benefits for veterans, money for improving the equipment we give to the troops serving in harms way, or alternative fuel research—all of which he has consistently voted against. Or I might not stick my fingers in my ears and run screaming from the room when he says the do-nothing Democrats are to blame for all the problems that exist in the entire universe. I do agree that the Democrats in the Congress have been a disappointment but they have only had the leadership for less than two years. Let’s look at the one thing that has cost the nation the most money and sent us spiraling into financial disaster and deficit—the war. Like good soldiers, they trusted the President’s information was real when they OK’d funding for the war. When they found out the war was based on lies, they still supported funding because it was equated with ‘support of the troops’ – and what person, elected or not, doesn’t support the troops—it’s unpatriotic.

Speaking of not patriotic. Have you noticed that, as citizens, just plain folks, we are no longer allowed to protest, (anything). The Conventions were a perfect example of this loss of civil rights – this time the right to disagree. In Denver, there were police in riot gear just waiting for those veterans to walk close enough to the convention site – to use all the new equipment purchased by funds allocated to the conventions to prevent terrorist attacks. And in St. Paul, the police voided the permits that peaceful demonstrators had obtained to prevent them from demonstrating and then launched into ‘arrest’ mode. Oh there were lots of important arrests — an ABC producer who didn’t move fast enough in Denver, and an NPR radio host and her producers who she was trying to help – we’re not sure they had committed a crime other than just being there.

The questions we need to ask ourselves are many among which might be; do we want more of the same—the lies, denials, misplaced blame, lack of concern for the environment, health, education, and welfare, of people who are not advantaged, as well as a loss of civil and human rights, determination to win an unwinnable war, and ongoing antagonism of any international friends we might have left. Or do we want to be a nation that thinks about the reality of the world as we know it, and use all the tools we have to make it better. And there’s nothing plain about that.

The title of this blog has nothing to do with the content, I just wanted to get your attention. My brother says that if McCain wins he’s leaving the country. There are some people who would say good riddance—not me or my mother, but some people. They would be terribly mistaken if they thought he should go elsewhere. He is not only a ‘personality’ on Bainbridge Island in Washington State, he is also a small business owner, (a bicycle shop) a father and a husband whose wife is a community activist. (My sister-in-law, Els, is Dutch but she has an American passport, and she chose to make a life in this country, and has worked very hard for that life to be successful). They care about the environment, (no paper towels in their house) their community, and the country. They have suffered the consequences of the George Bush Presidencies, and they don’t want eight more years. They have the luxury of being able to go somewhere else where there are friends and family, but what do the rest of us do? (Actually, I said if we all move to Europe, their health care system would pay for mom’s medical care, which was kind of like when I thought Mom should get arrested and then she would go to prison, have a bed, three squares, and all her health issues covered). But seriously folks, what do the rest of us do?

And speaking of serious, what does Biden do in a debate with Palin? First of all, he needs to have at least one woman on the debate preparation team. We cannot forget what happened in New Hampshire with Hillary Clinton. Women around the state hated it when they perceived the male candidates were ‘picking’ on her, and even Republican women came out in force to declare as Democrats and vote for her. Joe Biden cannot be “too smart.” And I respect Senator Biden but like many Senators they want everyone to know how smart they are. He doesn’t have to dumb down, but he does have to talk about the issues in a way that doesn’t seem condescending or he will lose the debate and, like in ’88, Obama will lose the election. (Lloyd Bengtsen won the debate but appeared to bully Dan Quayle - “Senator, you’re no Jack Kennedy…” and eventually lost to Bush I.)

There’s lot’s of stuff out there about Palin. The pregnant daughter, who chooses to keep the baby (a choice she doesn’t want the rest of us to have — and she will marry the sperm donor), the controversy about a firing, and the issue about whether or not she’s qualified. But let’s start with the question of motherhood. She has five kids. The last one, who she knew had Down syndrome, she chose to deliver at a hospital without a neonatal care unit. She has five children, who she will leave to go on the road for a Presidential campaign. How is that valuing your family? All of this needs to be left out of a debate. Any controversy about using her position to strong arm a public official into leaving his office because he didn’t fire her brother-in-law. This is small town politics, who cares? This should not be talked about in a debate. And is she qualified? This requires a new paragraph.

The Republicans are doing a great job spinning her qualifications. As Governor she is the Commander in Chief of the Alaskan National Guard. She got her passport in 2006 to go to Kuwait to have lunch with some of the Alaskan troops serving abroad. Certainly that qualifies her to understand US foreign policy. And she was a soccer mom. There is no one more determined to destroy the opposition than a soccer mom. She took on the Alaskan leadership by selling the state airplane on E-bay, and after voting in favor of the ‘bridge to nowhere,’ changed her mind and was against it. If that’s not being a courageous reformer I don’t know what is. She is an expert in energy. It’s not exactly like understanding energy policy, but she knows that it’s foolish for environmentalists to make a big deal about drilling for oil on 2000 acres of an arctic wilderness preserve when there are 2 million acres available—really, what’s the big deal? And energy is the strength she brings to the ticket. Biden cannot ridicule this position because there are so many people who believe this demonstrates good sense.

So what does Biden do? He just answers the questions in a thoughtful and reasonable way and he disappoints the expectations of the Republicans who think he’s going to go after her. He doesn’t have to do anything to prove she shouldn’t be on the ticket. He doesn’t need to point out her lack experience and skills. He just has to keep quiet enough to let Palin be Palin (we know she’s not Hillary), and that should be enough to jar the American public into realizing, depending on their vote, that she could become their reality. And by the way, in case you are curious, let me introduce you to the (possibly) next Vice President’s husband: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mlwpg_QsYnc.