Palin Paradox

While I am always impressed by women who achieve success and promote the common good, I am always equally annoyed that these women are placed into notoriety and a special category for being an anomaly due to their gender. They can do it all! Raise a family, earn an income, lead the masses, and look good while doing it ALL. It is expected that men will be successful and leaders.

It is a sad account of our times that Sarah Palin has risen to be a media darling and a dark horse in this 2008 political arena. There has been an undeniable shift from focusing on party and candidate platforms to spotlighting Palin as the answer to all that ails us, or, depending on point of view, reason for all that ails us.

Who is Sarah Palin? She has a family---that in itself is a challenge, she is strong in her religious beliefs, she is popular in her home state of Alaska, and she has an image and presence that "is a breath of fresh air" to us all...but I propose that she is a deflection....a distraction...a scapegoat.

With all that she has going for her, the hurdles she has overcome, the massive responsibilities she has strapped to her back, she is still the absolute wrong reason to vote for a particular presidential candidate. Has she sold her soul to the GOP devil? Has she taken on the crusade to fix all our woes?

I am saddened and disappointed in her that she agreed to be the "wag the dog" poster child for solid American solutions in our time. With her as the second-in-command leader of our nation, only two things can happen. She will be cast aside after the election when the real meat of issues are at stake; only to be brought out to raise the collective spirit of the people when things appear dire. A really good speechwriter and a spin doctor can produce a really good cheerleader! Perhaps she will be counted on to lift foreign attitudes towards the U. S. and strike a blow for all Americans because it is believed that she can do the right thing. Do we really think that she can deter the the very grounded, money-motivated, self-interest group that we know as the Republican Party?

Because she accepted the call to become the running mate of John McCain regardless of the differences in their stances and her relative anonymity here on the Mainland, the Republican Party has once again succeeded in making the 2008 presidential election more about them and less about our great country and the citizens of the United States of America.