In My Orbit...
Yeah, I know... Politics, again?! But it's less than three weeks before the elections, and silly season has kicked into full swing. Perhaps I should have named this one Illustrating Absurdity instead....
Who does fit that bill? Ms. Meghan McCain. The very blonde daughter of Senator John McCain graduated college a few years back, produced a much-touted blog of her father on the campaign trail, and is now a "heavyweight" political commentator as evidenced by her column space in The Daily Beast and appearances on political shows like "This Week." Apparently the Paris Hilton of politics is also an authority on experience and success, if her comments about Christine O'Donnell on the aforementioned Sunday show are any indication:
"I speak as a 26-year-old woman, and my problem is that, no matter what, Christine O'Donnell is making a mockery of running for public office," McCain told host Christiane Amanpour. "She has no real history, no real success in any kind of business."
Politico supplies the video here.
At least Chelsea Clinton and Barbara and Jenna Bush actually worked and did community service after college. They could have easily rode on the coattails of their name recognition, but they chose differently. Hmmm... that choice alone says much about Ms. McCain.
Being corpulent myself, I won't get into the only thing that I consider weighty about this young girl. One of my favorite (and weighty in the correct sense) political commentators, Doug Powers, summarily and appropriately dismisses her: McCain: Christine O'Donnell seen as a Nutjob.
President Obama thinks you're fearful and stupid. Clutch the pearls! According to an AP Poll, and despite the focus-grouped MTV crowd, nobody really giving a rat's heinie what the President thinks anymore.
Michael Gerson deconstructs our President's latest elitist remarks in Obama the Snob,
"The neocortical presidency destroys the possibility of political dialogue. What could Obama possibly learn from voters who are embittered, confused and dominated by subconscious evolutionary fears? They have nothing to teach, nothing to offer to the superior mind. Instead of engaging in debate, Obama resorts to reductionism, explaining his opponents away."
Jennifer Rubin of Commentary Magazine further deconstructs in A Snob, but not really an Intellectual, making a firm case that someone who is an intellectual would have a better capacity for policy, economics, and especially people. A pull quote:
"His understanding of free markets, international affairs, war strategy, and domestic policy evidences no originality. To the contrary, his vision is supported by myths and inaccuracies. (Recall the serial misstatements about history during the campaign.) It is not, then, the public that lacks reasoning skills; it is the president, whose rigid ideology prevents him from taking in new data, analyzing it dispassionately, and rendering decisions based on the facts before him."
Interesting, if Ms. McCain truly were a "heavyweight" political commentator, she could have drawn some distinct parallels between O'Donnell and Obama, and what inexperience really costs us.