Having watched the bizarre spectacle offered up last night from St. Paul, Minn., I am of the firm opinion that part of me has been scarred. After taking in the events and processing the uneven banter of the ‘usual’ talking heads - a slow dull ache from somewhere within the unknowable recesses of my gray-matter started ... and it persists still. Channel surfing between a C-Span feed, the PBS pitter-patter, the ‘abc-assessments’ on ABC, and NBC’s odd and eerie offering of a US Presidential Address delivered in one-sided echoless techno vacuum, I was overcome by the realization that this GOP convention is a convention in name only.
What it really is ... what it clearly is ... is a ritualized quadrennial gathering of a group who have lost their collective identity. An empty charade populated with fragile smiles, tentative applause and defensive posturing which belie the fact that someone, something, has gutted the core out of this once formidable political force. Literally and metaphorically, if group body language is any indication, it appears that the GOP has been torn apart at its unifying seam. Since its last ritualized gathering in 2004 it finds itself plunging headlong into a profound identity crisis. On the tube last night what we saw was disparate clusters of likeminded ideological warriors, fiscal conservatives, cultural hard-liners, a few centrists and a great many lost sheep. Unfathomable four years ago, the GOP now seems in need of a little psych counselling.
Whether Gov. Palin is capable of setting the stage tonight for Thursday’s much needed healing and couch session under the tutelage of Sen. McCain remains to be seen. But, if she tries to treat the party’s chronic dissociation borne of eight years of Bush inspired PTSD with a petty dose of pablum revolving around the mainstays of Family, God, Guns, and the promise of Glory she will surely fail.
A quick read of her Alaskan “State of the State” addresses, in addition to number of published interviews, leads one to believe that she works from a predictable and finite template. Demonstrably at ease and capable of addressing state issues in her speeches as Alaskan governor, it will be interesting if she can master the same at the national level. More importantly, it will be crucial for her to convey a firm political understanding of the long term challenges facing not only the country – but those of her party in the short campaign ahead. The problem Gov. Palin faces is that in her speeches she uses her family is the introductory device and jumping off point to the God & Country and Iraq war references. In the wake of recent developments it will be interesting to see if she opts to stick with the tried and true. Or, she may adopt a whole new approach to her oratory. Perhaps, tonight we will see her deviate from her template and begin by outlining the strength of her religious convictions and their place in her American dream as a way of constructing and conveying her ‘vision’ to the voters? Either way, it will be interesting to watch!
Oh, by the way... no matter what she does, if McCain can’t close the deal on Thursday, they are done for... in the meantime: Go Obama!
What it really is ... what it clearly is ... is a ritualized quadrennial gathering of a group who have lost their collective identity. An empty charade populated with fragile smiles, tentative applause and defensive posturing which belie the fact that someone, something, has gutted the core out of this once formidable political force. Literally and metaphorically, if group body language is any indication, it appears that the GOP has been torn apart at its unifying seam. Since its last ritualized gathering in 2004 it finds itself plunging headlong into a profound identity crisis. On the tube last night what we saw was disparate clusters of likeminded ideological warriors, fiscal conservatives, cultural hard-liners, a few centrists and a great many lost sheep. Unfathomable four years ago, the GOP now seems in need of a little psych counselling.
Whether Gov. Palin is capable of setting the stage tonight for Thursday’s much needed healing and couch session under the tutelage of Sen. McCain remains to be seen. But, if she tries to treat the party’s chronic dissociation borne of eight years of Bush inspired PTSD with a petty dose of pablum revolving around the mainstays of Family, God, Guns, and the promise of Glory she will surely fail.
A quick read of her Alaskan “State of the State” addresses, in addition to number of published interviews, leads one to believe that she works from a predictable and finite template. Demonstrably at ease and capable of addressing state issues in her speeches as Alaskan governor, it will be interesting if she can master the same at the national level. More importantly, it will be crucial for her to convey a firm political understanding of the long term challenges facing not only the country – but those of her party in the short campaign ahead. The problem Gov. Palin faces is that in her speeches she uses her family is the introductory device and jumping off point to the God & Country and Iraq war references. In the wake of recent developments it will be interesting to see if she opts to stick with the tried and true. Or, she may adopt a whole new approach to her oratory. Perhaps, tonight we will see her deviate from her template and begin by outlining the strength of her religious convictions and their place in her American dream as a way of constructing and conveying her ‘vision’ to the voters? Either way, it will be interesting to watch!
Oh, by the way... no matter what she does, if McCain can’t close the deal on Thursday, they are done for... in the meantime: Go Obama!