There.  I said it.  You’re all gasping, aren’t you?  It’s a shocking revelation.  Especially given the current American trend to applaud the apparent “normalness” of the Presidential & Vice Presidential candidates.

And you know what?  I don’t think you’re smart enough to be Vice President, either.  Did that hurt your feelings?  No?  Good.  Because it shouldn’t.  Running the most powerful country in the world isn’t something that should be left up to everyday Dick & Jane’s.  I went to college.  I have a degree.  So do most of you, I assume.  So do a lot of people.  And that’s great.  That’s what we encourage.  That’s what America’s all about.

It’s being celebrated that Sarah Palin is “just like me!”  But I don’t want a Vice President that’s just like me!  Frankly, that scares the ever loving shit out of me.  I don’t WANT to vote for someone that I can high five in the feminine products aisle at WalMart*.  I don’t WANT to vote for someone who finished at the BOTTOM of their class at the Naval Academy (The Naval Academy that they were accepted to because of their family’s Naval heritage.).  I don’t WANT to vote for someone who finally graduated college (University of Idaho) after 6 years and five different schools.  And that’s not a smack to the University of Idaho.  I went to UCSB, so I don’t have room to talk.

But, REALLY?  Is THAT what we’re suddenly celebrating and praising?  When did we get away from encouraging our children to excel?!  When did we get away from wanting our President & Vice President to be brilliant, to be mentally superior to us?!  To have an inherent, innate grasp of the economy, foreign relations, the fundamentals of the country (and I’m NOT referring to the American worker), or really anything else for that matter?!

I read this a few weeks ago and laughed at the first paragraph.  By the end, I was nodding emphatically in complete agreement:

Stop voting for people you want to have a beer with. Stop voting for folksy. Stop voting for people who remind you of your neighbor. Stop voting for the ideologically intransigent, the staggeringly ignorant, and the blazingly incompetent.

Vote for someone smarter than you. Vote for someone who inspires you. Vote for someone who has not only traveled the world but who has also shown a deep understanding and compassion for it. The stakes are real and they’re terrifyingly high. This election matters. It matters. It really matters. Let me say that one more time. This. Really. Matters.

Then I came across this Newsweek article and the subject came up again.

The point is that she comes to us, seeking the second most important job in the world, without any intellectual training relevant to the challenges and responsibilities that await her. There is nothing to suggest that she even sees a role for careful analysis or a deep understanding of world events when it comes to deciding the fate of a nation. In her interview with Gibson, Palin managed to turn a joke about seeing Russia from her window into a straight-faced claim that Alaska’s geographical proximity to Russia gave her some essential foreign-policy experience. Palin may be a perfectly wonderful person, a loving mother and a great American success story—but she is a beauty queen/sports reporter who stumbled into small-town politics, and who is now on the verge of stumbling into, or upon, world history.

And later:

Ask yourself: how has “elitism” become a bad word in American politics? There is simply no other walk of life in which extraordinary talent and rigorous training are denigrated. We want elite pilots to fly our planes, elite troops to undertake our most critical missions, elite athletes to represent us in competition and elite scientists to devote the most productive years of their lives to curing our diseases. And yet, when it comes time to vest people with even greater responsibilities, we consider it a virtue to shun any and all standards of excellence. When it comes to choosing the people whose thoughts and actions will decide the fates of millions, then we suddenly want someone just like us, someone fit to have a beer with, someone down-to-earth—in fact, almost anyone, provided that he or she doesn’t seem too intelligent or well educated.

And I know some of you are going to raise your hands and object to what I’m saying.  You’re going to say, “But I want the people who represent ME to be like ME!  To understand what I’m going through.  What my life is like!”  and I GET that.  I totally understand that.  But can’t they GET you and your life and STILL be brilliant?  Can’t they GET what your life is like and still understand how the economy works, be able to think on their feet and not lose their cool if they get ticked off about something?

I saw this post yesterday, by none other than Judy Blume (Yes, THAT Judy Blume), and it brought tears to my eyes.  Here’s a small snippet, but go read the whole thing.  It’s really beautifully written.

Whoever is elected in November is going to face a daunting challenge. No one person can clean up the mess it took 7 and ½ years to create. That’s why I want the calm, thoughtful candidate I believe will surround himself with the best and the brightest. I believe the decisions Obama makes will be made based on what’s best for this country.

I want a president who can make us proud as Americans. How great would it be after 7 and ½ years to have an articulate leader, an eloquent speaker, one who is not only willing to talk, but to listen? I believe Obama will be that kind of president. Plus, he has a sense of humor. He has two young daughters and a working wife. He’s smart. And let’s not forget the magic. Nothing wrong with having the ability to connect with people around the world –young, old, and in-between.

And why won’t Sarah Palin talk to reporters?  Why won’t they let reporters near her?  What are they so afraid of?!  The liberal media “attacking” her?  Or her opening her mouth and saying something along the lines of “In what regard?” or “I’ll try to find some and I’ll bring them to you.”

Is she a delicate flower that needs to be protected? If (god forbid) she becomes Vice President, are they EVER going to let her have her own thoughts or words, or will she be constantly monitored and made to stick to talking points?!

And don’t even get me STARTED on the debates.  McCain’s ploy yesterday totally threw me for a loop.  Until I saw that the plan was to try to have the Presidential debate moved to next Thursday in place of the VP debate.  And, HELLO, light bulb moment!  That gives the McCain camp extra (undefined) time to keep her out of the spotlight.  To keep her from having to, you know, TALK.  WTF?  I just don’t understand what they’re so afraid of.  Lord knows that if she stumbles & screws things up, they’ll just cry foul and garner sympathy from their supporters over the “unfair” treatment of her.

*UPDATE* I struggled with this graphic, because it’s seemingly opposite (as Heather pointed out in the comments) to the point I’m trying to get across.  Who’s really the elitist?  The Republicans have been screaming from the rooftops that Obama’s an elitist.  But HOW?  Because he’s incredibly smart?  Yes.   Because he lives an insanely wealthy life?  Uh.  NO.  If elite means intelligent, GREAT!  If it means out of touch with how “normal” American’s live their daily life, I’d have to give that title to McCain.

*UPDATE #2* I thought, briefly, about using this clip as my entire post.  But I really wanted to put all of this together, so I couldn’t bring myself to erase it.  So I’ve just added it here.  I don’t, honestly, even have anything to say about it.


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*I’m not saying I don’t want a female vice presidential candidate.  There’s nothing wrong with a woman being vice president.  There’s just, in my opinion, something wrong with this woman being vice president.

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