The Conventions Are Over. Let the Madness Begin

by Keith Cooper

From Broader View Weekly, September 12, 2008

The past few weeks have been fraught with political rhetoric as both Democratic and Republican parties held their national conventions and introduced their picks for vice-president. Once Senator Barack Obama and Senator John McCain selected their running mates, the celebratory cheerleading began.

I understand that a political party’s national convention is not designed as a podium to showcase a candidate’s platform or address issues of national interest. However, watching the events through the filter of the media, it is difficult for most viewers to sort through the commentary and sound bites to glean any grain of important information on where these politicians stand.

I have seen too many of these conventions to expect more than rousing cheers from the faithful gathering of followers and preaching to the choir from the podium. But I couldn’t bring myself to watch the seemingly endless hours of pundit analysis and interviews of delegates of celebrity. Instead I focused on the speeches by each candidate, their vice presidential pick and a few other party VIPs asked to endorse the nominees. I know these addresses are far from the pressure-cooker oration of a State of the Union or national speech, and that the audience is sure to cheer and boo in all the right places, but until the debates begin in earnest, we have little else on which to base our support than the words of the hopefuls themselves.

While there were few differences in the fanfare and hype of the two conventions, I noticed a distinct difference in tone. The conventions are the first real opportunity to pull off the gloves and step into the political ring with the opponent. Both sides did their share of throwing powerful jabs at the other party’s nominees, but the tone in which those attacks and counter attacks were served differed between Democrats and Republicans.

Conservatives are quick to claim that the Republican Party is the party of optimism, but it was hard to find that optimistic voice among the jeers and sarcasm of most of the speeches. Along with the requisite bashing of the opponent’s voting record, lack of vision or experience, the Republicans offered something else: a spirit of condescension. Lacking a clear plan to solve big problems, Republicans resorted to the same tired rhetoric that always works to rally the base and polarize the nation. The message was clear. “Those silly Democrats, they want to raise your taxes and take money out of your pocket, and make the government bigger and more bureaucratic. They want to weaken our defenses and talk to the terrorists.” It’s the same fear tactic that has always worked but delivered with the glibness of McCain’s “celebrity” ads and former New York mayor and presidential candidate Rudolf Guliani’s snide commentary. With the visual effects, pyrotechnics and production value of both conventions being pretty much equal, vice-presidential nominee Sarah Palin’s jibe about what will happen after Obama’s Styrofoam columns are put away rings empty if you haven’t drunk the Republicans’ Kool-Aid.

Palin herself is an interesting pick as McCain’s running mate. In contrast, Obama’s pick of Senator and former presidential candidate Joe Biden makes a lot of sense. He brings to the ticket an outspoken fighter who has long been critical of the Bush administration from which the Obama camp seeks to distinguish itself, and to which it seeks to align McCain. He also brings a wealth of foreign policy experience to Obama’s cause and would be valuable as a sitting vice president.

McCain’s choice of Palin is political maneuvering at best. In an attempt to solidify the support of the conservative base and rally evangelicals, McCain has picked a pro-life, pro-family conservative evangelical Christian. Unfortunately, Palin is a relatively unknown former small town mayor, who is currently serving in only her second year as governor of Alaska.

Some have criticized her lack of national prowess or qualifications to serve in the second-highest office of our government, but the most interesting criticisms I have heard have not come from the Democratic base. A split is forming among evangelicals, and fundamentalist extremists are damning the choice on moral grounds.

The obvious complication that has arisen in her personal life is the recent revelation that her 17-year-old daughter is pregnant. Supporters of McCain are quick to the defense of her daughter, calling family members off limits. But it hasn’t set well with evangelicals concerned with premarital sex. And it creates problems for Palin among others as well. When a candidate has billed herself as a proponent of abstinence-only birth control and an opponent of sex education, the pregnancy of a teenage daughter is relevant to the discussion.

Most interesting is increasingly vocal criticism from a sect of the evangelical base that doesn’t validate her running for any office let alone the office of Vice President of the United States. When Focus on the Family’s Dr. James Dobson took his place behind the McCain/Palin ticket he drew the ire of this extreme right wing. This small but vocal group sees a woman in political office as an affront to the biblical order of the sexes. This splintering of the evangelical base could backfire on McCain instead of drawing conservative voters. I also believe displaced Hillary Clinton supporters will find it hard to flock to his camp with Palin’s potential threat to Roe v. Wade, regardless of her self-proclamation as a feminist.

In any case, the choice of a running mate should bear in mind the consequences of the position of Vice President, not the consequences of the political campaign. McCain’s short-sighted choice looks forward through November but not beyond.

With the conventions behind us and debates to kick off in a couple of weeks there will be no shortage of political rhetoric flying about. We need to try to dig down beneath the heaps of hype and harvest the nuggets of truth if we are to make informed decisions on Election Day. We cannot rely on the media, with its focus on controversy, celebrity and competition, to cover real issues. We cannot be passive consumers of information. It is our duty as citizens of this republic to educate ourselves.