Interesting—a new perspective on a situation which has baffled me
Well-wriiten and fairly convincing, though it doesn’t capture everything about this most unusual of all elections. The writer himself is obviously a member of that same conniving upper-middle class, but at least he recognizes its problems in the same way that WF Buckley (and not his pathetic son) did. There is no question that the most “radical” or at least independent thinkers in the election are Palin and McCain (in that order).
Noonan and others criticize Palin because she does not articulate a “philosophy”, at least to their liking. But they miss the point. Palin embodies an authentic American experience that is quickly vanishing; Noonan and her ilk are more interested in people who can talk about things like rugged individualism—they have no idea what to do when confronted by someone who actually is a rugged individualist. Even the great Reagan was, after all, from Hollywood.
McCain may be the last President cut from the same cloth as Eisenhower; i.e., a military man from a military family. Not particularly partisan, but fiercely pragmatic and action-oriented. The last person on a national ticket with Palin’s unique credentials is, of course, Teddy Roosevelt. Compared to the Democrat ticket which is, well, just two mediocre lawyers who think that preening their media image is a form of public service, there is no comparison.
It isn’t just that McCain and Palin have better character than their opponents. They have character out the wazoo, whereas Obama and Biden have no character to speak of at all—they are interchangable with any two leftist lawyers you might run into at a local political function. But, as the author says, they are established members of the upper-middle class (as is every member of the MSM).