Both Biden and McCain are Senate veterans yet there is a world of difference between the two
men. Joe Biden is a man of words while John McCain is a man of action. Biden literally grew up in the Senate and came to maturity as a man while learning how to parse words and write policies. McCain is the former navy jet pilot who quickly assesses a situation then takes action. Sometimes he is accused of moving too fast. Then again the Senate crawls at a snail’s pace while trying to find words that will offend the fewest. To them McCain can seem too quick to judge and even too abrasive at times whereas Biden is sometimes so verbose that he makes outrageous statements.The two senior Senators match up as a man of action (McCain) vs. a man of words (Biden). The two newcomers, however, are both bringing hope to people. But Obama and Palin offer two widely different views of hope. Obama offers the hope of a beggar who is waiting for someone to give him a handout. Barack talks of understanding the poor and disenfranchised. How people are being downtrodden by the rich and powerful in a fight between classes where the poor are always the losers. In this terrible economy people need to hope that someone will be there for them, protecting them from the rich and providing for them and that savior is Barack Obama. This is a very appealing message which has been effectively used in the past. But it is even more powerful coming from a black man, one of the “oppressed”, never mind his Harvard education, law degree, etc. etc.
Sarah Palin, however, offers the hope of joy. Yes, she will tell you, life is hard and the economy is
bad but there is still the joy found in a child’s hockey match or in being a parent. She also offers the hope and joy found in helping yourself. I believe it was on Fox, but one of the stations last night had a group of independents rating the debate. They said that one of the highest rated discussions was when Palin said something along the lines that people are angry at Washington and won’t let it get away with this any more. She then talked about how “we” can make life better together. That may not be the exact wording but the sentiment that came across was one of government getting out of your way so that you can pull yourself up out of problems and despair. This is also a powerful message.Obama offers a message of despair and the hope of handouts while trusting others to help you while Palin offers a message of joy and the hope of empowering yourself to make the world a better place. Actually, this is almost the classic battle of right vs. left, of FDR’s America handouts vs. Teddy Roosevelt’s America. It is also why Sara Palin has so often been compared to Ronald Reagan. Both of them embrace a combination of Horatio Alger’s self made man with Norman Rockwell’s innocent joy in the day to day things in this world.
Right now Obama appears to be leading by a substantial margin but if McCain offers people an optimistic picture in spite of all the world’s problems then he just might have a chance. People loved Ronald Reagan and are falling in love with Sarah Palin because they make us feel good about ourselves and America. And when Reagan first ran, America was actually in worse shape back then what with the 20%+ interest rate and over 12% unemployment rate and gas shortages and hostages. Yet Reagan told us that this is a nation that can do anything if we put
our minds to it because we are a great nation and McCain needs to tell us the same thing.McCain is the only candidate who can tell us that we can still be proud to be an American and that he will help us fight to get Washington out of the way so that we can stand on our own again. If he does that, then perhaps this might be a close race again.
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