Quite the contrast

This election isn't about McCain vs. Obama. It's about Palin vs. Obama. Or so it would seem, given all the massive attention to these two in the media. The contrast between how they express themselves is marked, and says a lot about what kind of future we'd have if one or the other gained the election. Palin has twisted things in her acceptance speech, and I'm a bit disappointed.

When I ran for city council, I didn't need focus groups and voter profiles because I knew those voters, and knew their families, too.

In a small town, that's possible. In a city, those profiles are a really good way to get to know what a lot of people in your district are thinking. In a state, or a country, those statistics, plus your individual contacts, help you keep in touch. The United States isn't a small town—and although she might not like it, most of the world doesn't live in rural areas any more.

And since our opponents in this presidential election seem to look down on that experience, let me explain to them what the job involves.

I guess a small-town mayor is sort of like a "community organizer," except that you have actual responsibilities.

I hadn't realized that "community organizer" was a slam. I thought it was a good thing, somebody who got people together and energized and out there helping them help themselves. And of course, she never did really explain what the responsibilities were.

Palin goes on to blast Obama for insulting small-town folks, except that she's taking his statement out of context.

It struck me as interesting that she characterized Obama as "raising taxes" and burdening small business owners and your average joe, when he actually spoke of reducing taxes for 90 percent of the population, and raising it for only the top ten percent. That's people who earn more than a quarter-million dollars a year. People who earn less than this, like me and my husband (by a factor of ten), will have their taxes reduced. So is she saying her sister and brother-in-law earn more than $250,000? Doesn't sound so average that way, does it?

And she said this:

I fought to bring about the largest private-sector infrastructure project in North American history....That pipeline, when the last section is laid and its valves are opened, will lead America one step farther away from dependence on dangerous foreign powers that do not have our interests at heart.

Nope. Palin seems to have complete confidence in being dependent on the benevolence of dangerous multinational corporate powers that do not have either our personal or our national interests at heart. So long as we get our cut.

There were other things she was less than straightforward about. And it bothers me. I don't like her views on many things, but I like her energy, her intelligence, and so far she's proved reasonably capable. But she's not any different than the "Washington establishment" she blasts away at.