![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
So, I finally figured out how to articulate what's been bugging me about Sarah Palin -- or really, what's been bugging me about the liberal reaction to Palin. (And by "liberal reaction," I pretty much mean the various blogs/journals I read. At this point, it's easier for me to keep track of which bloggers *haven't* posted something indignant.)
The last two elections, hanging chads and all, really came down to the culture wars. Twenty years ago, no one talked about red states and blue states; now it's practically an inescapable part of political analysis.
The promise of Obama is that he refuses to get into the culture wars. He doesn't say, "Pro-life people suck!" He says, "Hey, if you believe life begins at conception, we're never going to agree on that. But can't we agree to work together to reduce unintended pregnancies?"
*That's* the change that has so many people so motivated to elect him: Not a change from R to D, but a change away from partisan politics and toward a united nation.
So now Palin comes along, and she embodies all these things that send liberal folks (including me, definitely) off the rails -- she's pro-life! and she thinks schools should teach creationism! and she like to kill animals with guns! -- and all of a sudden, we're back in the culture wars.
So voters who are pro-life but aren't single-issue voters, and who like to hunt on crisp fall weekends, and who feel like the war in Iraq has just gone on too long, and who are sold on the need for universal health care? Those people, who were seriously considering voting for Obama because McCain isn't doing much for them, are now running across all these rants about how much people who think like they do are OUTRAGEOUS and IGNORANT and RUINING THIS COUNTRY.
Way to bridge the divide, people. Way to be the change you want to see.
The last two elections, hanging chads and all, really came down to the culture wars. Twenty years ago, no one talked about red states and blue states; now it's practically an inescapable part of political analysis.
The promise of Obama is that he refuses to get into the culture wars. He doesn't say, "Pro-life people suck!" He says, "Hey, if you believe life begins at conception, we're never going to agree on that. But can't we agree to work together to reduce unintended pregnancies?"
*That's* the change that has so many people so motivated to elect him: Not a change from R to D, but a change away from partisan politics and toward a united nation.
So now Palin comes along, and she embodies all these things that send liberal folks (including me, definitely) off the rails -- she's pro-life! and she thinks schools should teach creationism! and she like to kill animals with guns! -- and all of a sudden, we're back in the culture wars.
So voters who are pro-life but aren't single-issue voters, and who like to hunt on crisp fall weekends, and who feel like the war in Iraq has just gone on too long, and who are sold on the need for universal health care? Those people, who were seriously considering voting for Obama because McCain isn't doing much for them, are now running across all these rants about how much people who think like they do are OUTRAGEOUS and IGNORANT and RUINING THIS COUNTRY.
Way to bridge the divide, people. Way to be the change you want to see.