Palin is one of us on national stage(Columbus Dispatch, October 5, 2008)Watching the vice presidential debate reminded me of a time, as a child, when moms told their little Susie or Johnny, "You can be anything you want when you grow up, even the president of the United States." But as we grew up, we realized that we weren't connected enough or part of the political elite and couldn't run for public office, certainly not president.
Then along comes Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin and suddenly
I think she's just like me and that the possibility is still alive for my two daughters and all of the kids of Joe and Josephine Six-Pack. Here's a former PTO president, city council member and small-town mayor. And she's there on the national stage, talking to people like me in a way that I talk to my friends.
She's smart, she's witty and she's focused on her family.
And her family is like my family.She's outspoken and doesn't toe the party line. I can't help but support a candidate like that.
JENNIFER B. MORRISON
Columbus
Talk about identity politics. "She's me!" shout Palin's supporters. "Sa-rah! Sa-rah!"
Perhaps I'll run into Ms. Morrison while running errands around town today. I hope so! I'd ask her the same question I'd like to ask of all mindless Palinites:
Who do you want co-piloting the 747 that flies you and your family to Europe, 35,000 feet above the frigid North Atlantic? Who do you want sitting alongside your illness-prone pilot, the oldest ever to make the flight? Do you want someone "just like you", with no knowledge or expertise in aviation other than having lived near an airport? Or do you want the most experienced co-pilot available?
I'm sure that, like me, Ms. Morrison would protect her family by choosing the experienced co-pilot.
Why then does she not apply the same principle to the far more important job of co-piloting the nation? For
that job, apparently no knowledge or expertise is required at all. Just a family. :shrug:
BTW, if Ms. Morrison's family truly is just like Palin's, her time would be much better spent working on straightening them out than writing yet another "She's me!" letter to the newspaper.