Backhanded Compliment

David Brooks can't bring himself to admit that Obama's model for leadership is vastly superior to McCain's.

Sarah Palin has many virtues. If you wanted someone to destroy a corrupt establishment, she’d be your woman. But the constructive act of governance is another matter. She has not been engaged in national issues, does not have a repertoire of historic patterns and, like President Bush, she seems to compensate for her lack of experience with brashness and excessive decisiveness.

The idea that “the people” will take on and destroy “the establishment” is a utopian fantasy that corrupted the left before it corrupted the right. Surely the response to the current crisis of authority is not to throw away standards of experience and prudence, but to select leaders who have those qualities but not the smug condescension that has so marked the reaction to the Palin nomination in the first place.

First of all, what "corrupt establishment" did Palin destroy? She may have removed one failed administration in Juneau, but she replaced it with one made up of equally corrupt grade-school chums. She and her staff regularly use personal email to conduct state business because it could be exempt from subpoena. And she repeatedly lies about almost everything she has ever done (or does, considering she just lied yesterday about something as inconsequential as using a TelePrompter vs. speaking extemporaneously).

And I don't buy that the reaction to the Palin nomination -- by progressives or conservatives -- has been either smug or condescending. There have been a fair number of attempts at sarcasm, to be fair, and couple of high-quality attempts at humor (SNL), but for the most part what has characterized the reaction to Palin is 1) disbelief, and 2) rage. I can't believe that John McCain actually cared more about winning the election than he did about serving his country. I am royally pissed off that he says he believes in Palin's ability to be president when his first choice for veep was Joe Lieberman, which was nixed by the GOP powers that be.

McCain has sold his soul to the Christianist devils to get elected. That's not smug or condescending. That's just plain contempt.