The Current Discussion: Does it worry you that Sarah Palin, the Republican vice presidential nominee talks about issues like gun rights and abortion and teaching "creationism" in school, but has no experience in foreign policy? What does her selection say to people in other countries about how U.S. politics works?
Sarah Palin's nomination for the U.S. vice presidency reflects the best and worst in American politics and culture.
She represents the bottom of the barrel in her provincialism in global affairs, and her willingness to be used as an attack dog whose main job is to savage the Democrats with sarcasm, selectivity and exaggeration. She bases her candidacy on a series of emotional appeals more suited to television soap opera and wrestling arenas than to serious politics -- busy mom, moose hunter, rebel, hockey fan, etc. Appealing to emotions rather than to rationality is a common political feat around the world, not only in the U.S. But Americans take this to a higher level of idiocy, treating the citizens as nincompoops rather than serious thinking men and women, offering good vibes rather than sensible, viable policies.
This is the junk politics of television entertainment that Americans have perfected so well in recent decades. Her total lack of knowledge of the world and how it works is a major shortcoming for a vice president, but the U.S. does not take world affairs seriously these days so her nomination is an apt reflection of where global issues stand in the Republican worldview. She has her moose-hunting rifle and hockey sticks in the back of her pickup truck and that seems fine to her for dealing with the world.
At the same time, the process that led to her selection is very impressive. The campaign and primaries allowed the American people to select from a wide range of candidates and to subject them all to intense, sustained scrutiny. The final selections of candidates is a shining affirmation of electoral democracy at its best, in that it truly leaves the decision on who gets nominated to the consent of the governed and the will of the people.
The irony and sometimes tragedy of the American system is that an impressive process of domestic democratic politics often results in personalities and policies that lead to savagery and mayhem on the world stage. A laudatory native process breaks down when it crosses the borders and engages the world. Sarah Palin reminds us that America's finest are often a horror show for the rest of the world. It is not a good sign that she does not even know how to pronounce the name of the country Iraq properly. She should only be judged by her actions, though, so we should give her time to learn something about the world and clarify her positions.
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