Anthony Slessor

Palin as President

A week ago the British press revealed that Sarah Palin had openly declared that she is considering running for the Republican nomination to fight the next Presidential election in 2012. To quote from the Guardian:

The New York Times said that Palin went on to say that "her decision would involve evaluating whether she could bring unique qualities to the table".

There are many things she could bring that would be unique. None of them are qualities. There seems to be a large number of people who think it inconceivable that someone so unsuitable and dangerously stupid could ever be placed in a position of power. Yet that is exactly what happened to George W Bush, with incontrovertible proof supplied by the history of his term in office. Any electorate capable of putting Bush into the Presidency is capable of electing Palin. So perhaps, on reflection, “unique” cannot be applied to her.

The end of The Great Experiment draws ever closer.

PS: Have another look at Stanley Kramer’s film “Inherit the Wind”. GW Bush and SL Palin, plus a few million resurrected wackos, have made that movie as relevant today as it was 50 years ago.

PPS: In the Independent newspaper David Usborne , on 24 Nov, described the Palin family (reality TV – Sarah’s Alaska and Bristol dancing) as a cultural force in the US that won’t go away. Rather reminds me of the more pompous of my fellow Army officers who used to say of the RAF that they didn’t have traditions, only habits. Can Red Neck America have a cultural force?