My Time to Waste

Somehow it already feels like ancient history, but the reader perhaps remembers the hubbub surrounding the book Game Change when it was published eight days ago.  Harry Reid was quoted talking about Obama’s lack of a Negro dialect.  Sarah Palin is also depicted negatively in the book.

Reid’s response was to stand up and admit he said what he said.  And he apologized.

Palin’s response was to simply state that the book was full of lies.

One might look at the two responses and draw conclusions about who is leadership material.

On the other hand, both of them responded in the way that their politics required of them.  Politics required Reid to man up and apologize.  Politics requires Palin to just declare the book to be lies.   (Maybe they are lies.  I don’t know).

With 63% of precincts reporting, the Republican Brown is defeating the Democrat Coakley in the Massachusetts senate race 53% to 46%.  It is not looking good.

Now the Democrats are faced with the question of what to do with health care reform.  Are they leaders or are they craven cowards to the political breeze.

TPM alerts us to the early leap by Indiana’s Bayh to cowardice.

The irony is that if the Dems listen to the lesson of Massachusetts and fail to pass health care, they will lose a lot more this fall then they will if they stand tall and pass the bill.  They already voted for it.

If Coakley does indeed lose, it probably means the end of Cap and Trade.   With luck the global warming deniers are correct.

Will we get leadership or politicians?

When Sarah Palin burst upon our consciousness, she brought her family along, including the baby, Trig.

The grandfather says Trig is named after his great uncle, a Bristol Bay fisherman.

I vaguely remember reading this explanation of the name at the time.  I gave no thought to where the name might have come from beyond that.

On page 405 of Coming Into the Country, McPhee is discussing the cabins of Dick and Donna.

The shanty that Dick and Donna use on stopovers in Eagle is only a little up from squalid…Their fish camp down the Yukon can be discouraging, too–a dirty, fetid, lightless cabin astink in aging salmon.  These more manifest habitations long ago earned Cook a reputation as a  sloven–among people who have never been here.  This secluded cabin (his home of homes) is neat and tidy–in fact, trig.

Upon reading this, I immediately thought about the Palin baby.  Visiting dictionary.com I find the following definitions:

neat, trim, smart, or spruce.

in good physical condition; sound; well.

to support or prop, as with a wedge.

to act as a check on (the moving of wheels, vehicles, etc.)

That is a complicated four letter name.  With luck the ironies will shift and multiply as he grows.

I guess Mrs. Palin had sympathy for Michael Jackson’s family.  I come home and it seems like everything in my Google Reader is about Sarah Palin.  There is plenty of speculation about why she is resigning.

I have seen arguments that her resigning the governorship will not hurt her presidential chances in 2012, and I have seen arguments that her chances for the presidency are now finished.  I would tend to agree with the latter.  I do not see someone winning the presidency when opponents can point and say “quitter.”

Time will tell.

I have never been a fan of Sarah Palin.  But I can see how she did well in Alaska.  And I can see how she may have been good for Alaska.  Alaska has 571,951.26 square miles and a population of 686,293 for a density of 1.19 people per square mile.  Plus, the state has large quantities of natural resources.  Residents do not pay state taxes, they get a check from the state for their share of the natural resource profits! (that’s socialism if anyone cares).

Given those facts, how much state government do Alaskans need?  Very little.  Palin’s ideology is minimal government.  A perfect fit.

When Palin was picked as McCain’s VP candidate, I had two problems with her.  I did not agree with her ideology and she was not prepared to deal with the issues of the country at large.  Yes, she had her idealogy and she had what she knew to do for Alaska, but she clearly had not given the issues of the country as a whole much thought.  I would want the VP to have spent a bit more time thinking about Iraq, Afganistan, Israel, and Iran; health care, recessions, bubbles, and fed policy than can be done in a six month cram session while furiously traveling the country campaigning.

I have no idea of what her plans are. And I wish her well.  But if she is planning to run for president in 2012 or 2016, I hope she uses the interim time to become familiar with the issues that a president may have to deal with so she can discuss them without so much reliance on conservative boilerplate.