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Sep

29

L’shana Tovah Tikatavu

Filed Under Holidays, Jewish, Judaism | 3 Comments

Image by Camille Kress

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By Jill Miller Zimon at 4:02 pm September 29th, 2008 in Holidays, Jewish, Judaism | 3 Comments 

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Sep

29

Reason #37 to VOTE FOR Obama/Biden

Filed Under 57ReasonsObamaBiden, Barack Obama, Israel, Joe Biden, WH2008 | 2 Comments

[See here for the full explanation of the abbreviated post]

#37 Obama authored and introduced as the primary sponsor the Iran Sanctions Enabling Act in May 2007 (Senate Bill 1430).  Obama’s bill makes it easier for state and local governments to divest from companies that invest in Iran’s energy sector, providing the revenue Iran uses to pursue nuclear weapons and sponsor terrorism. You can read the CRS summary here. For those Ohioans so stunned into awe by State Rep. Josh Mandel’s efforts to get Ohio pensions to divest, I would certainly expect you to be supporting and heralding Obama’s efforts to do something similar at the appropriate national level of government, where such foreign policy legislation is supposed to occur.  John McCain is not one of the co-sponsors, but Joe Lieberman and several Republicans are.  Here’s an op-ed from August 2007, written by Obama, about the bill.

On November 4, for vote Obama/Biden.

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By Jill Miller Zimon at 3:34 pm September 29th, 2008 in 57ReasonsObamaBiden, Barack Obama, Israel, Joe Biden, WH2008 | 2 Comments 

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Sep

29

More on Palin and passports

Filed Under Culture, Politics, Sarah Palin, Vice President, WH2008 | 3 Comments

Could not say it any better than Pam at BlogHer (I’ve previously written about this topic here):

According to Mrs. Palin, there are a select few people who are able to enjoy travel to foreign countries, to explore other cultures, to learn that a Norwegian is not just a Nebraskan who speaks a strange language and wears a funny costume for national festivals.–Chubbs

[Pam goes on to detail her less than glamorous travels that started when she, "was an exchange student the same year I was a foster kid,shuffled between homes during a divorce, looked upon with mercy by my Spanish teacher who'd noticed my language skills. It's a good read about the grind as well as thrill of travel.]

So, what culture did Sarah Palin mean, again? I could spend a lot of time second guessing the VP candidate, but it would just be speculation.

The culture of travelers. We’re a wily lot, hard to pin down, what with our insistance on always moving. We’re not just kids from families with money, we’re not just hippies with backpacks. We’re missionaries and volunteers and retirees and dot com lottery winners and expats and military wives and English teachers and entrepreneurs and round the world families and Rhodes scholars. We’re a lot of things. What ties us together might be the fact that we have passports, but I’d say it’s our curiosity about the world.

When I find out someone doesn’t have a passport, after I’m done flipping out, I ask them why. And typcially, the answer comes down to one thing: It’s not a priority. Then, I have to take a little time to get over myself and calm down, to not ask pointy questions about how the world outside could NOT be a priority, but I’m getting better at that. I DO understand, as much as it grates, that the wide world isn’t on the top of everyone’s to do list. Once I’ve calmed down and my intellect kicks in, I realized I have no business questioning someone’s priorities – if their priorities don’t allow for travel, ah, I know I can not judge that or convince them otherwise. Ultimately, when I get out of my own way, it’s cool. Really. I get that travel wasn’t a priority for Sarah Palin. She was raising a family and working and getting involved with local issues. I get it. Honest.

But when it comes to the second highest office in the land? The Vice President? In an era where our economy is being eclipsed by China and India, where our fuel comes from a highly destabilized region, when our stuff comes from Asia and our jobs are scattered all over the planet, does it matter if our leaders have passports? When trade and diplomacy and defense and the stewardship of the planet are global issues, does it matter if our leaders have stepped foot outside our boundaries and seen how other people live?

I share Pam’s thoughts.

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By Jill Miller Zimon at 1:41 pm September 29th, 2008 in Culture, Politics, Sarah Palin, Vice President, WH2008 | 3 Comments 

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Sep

29

High anxiety over the Palin-Biden debate

Filed Under Barack Obama, Debates, Joe Biden, John McCain, Politics, Vice President, WH2008 | 4 Comments

Not so much by me – I’ve got the holidays to get through. But one google news search on “palin” or “palin debate” shows you just how much is being written about the only vice presidential debate scheduled between Alaska Governor and GOP VP candidate, Sarah Palin, and Senator Joe Biden, Barack Obama’s running mate.

This post from the Wall Street Journal underscores a fact that became apparent very soon after Palin was selected: voters will not be fooled so easily.  They indicated in early polls and continue to indicate that they do not see the selection of president as a popularity contest, certainly not this year.  People, me included, have been generous and sincere in rating Palin’s likeability, but voters are rightfully very stingy with converting high likeability into a belief in and vote for someone to be president in waiting, especially in these times.

From the WSJ:

The McCain campaign moved its top officials inside Gov. Sarah Palin’s operation Sunday to prepare for what is certain to be the most important event of her vice-presidential campaign: her debate on Thursday with Democrat Joe Biden.

Additionally, at the urging of the Republican presidential nominee, Sen. John McCain, Gov. Palin will leave late Monday for his Arizona ranch to prepare for the high-stakes debate.

The moves follow several shaky performances by Gov. Palin last week and come amid concern and grumbling from Republicans, and even a few queries from her husband, Todd Palin, according to campaign operatives and Republican officials.

We’ve read about concerns regarding Todd Palin’s involvement in Gov. Palin’s administration.  And we know that people joked about “Billary” regarding Hillary and Bill Clinton.  Mustn’t the people who lobbed those criticisms at the Clintons consider the same regarding the Palins?

But I digress.  So, what are the concerns about Palin vis a vis the debate?

More broadly, the McCain campaign aims to halt what it sees as a perceived decline in the crispness and precision of Gov. Palin’s latest remarks as well as a fall in recent polls, according to several advisers and party officials.

Again – how does such an observation play when you consider this candidate for president-in-waiting?  Her participation in the election is just over four weeks old – she’ll have to be crisp and precise for four years if the GOP ticket wins.

The next observation harkens back to some that I’ve made before:

“She hasn’t had the time or inclination to question the judgments of the people telling her to hit her marks,” said one Republican strategist. “Gov. Palin is a team player, but the campaign needs to adjust to a game plan that works for her.”

Hmm – see, to me, this is very problematic and not at all surprising.  Several of the possible VP selections, women included, would have been individuals who also would have been team players, but their experience and knowledge would have alerted them to be inclined “to question the judgment of the people telling her to hit her marks.”

Seriously.  Think about that.  What does this imply, what can we infer from this observation about how Palin would manage being president? For one thing, it explains why:

Almost half the country, 49 percent, say she’s not qualified, compared to only 21 percent for Biden, according to the latest ABC News/Washington Post poll.

And on the same note, in the WSJ piece:

Last week, nearly half the respondents in a Wall Street Journal/NBC News poll said she is unqualified to be president, while one in three said they were “not at all” comfortable with the idea of Gov. Palin as vice president, up five points from a poll in early September.

Fareed Zakaria went on the record in Newsweek and concluded:

In these times, for John McCain to have chosen this person to be his running mate is fundamentally irresponsible. McCain says that he always puts country first. In this important case, it is simply not true.

Moving on, while the WSJ piece has several additional statements that represent further raising of red flags, for me, the clincher is in a reference to concerns voiced by her husband.  To me, they indicate just how handicapped Palin is, as a result of living in and fighting for Alaska for 40 years.  That singular focus, on top of the lack of interest in the rest of the country and beyond our borders (see #2 here), prevents her from being able to comprehend – even at a requisite threshold for vice president let alone for president – let alone govern a country populated by 300 million very different people in 50 very different states.

For his part, Mr. Palin has worried about the frequent separation of his wife from her family, friends and Alaska staff, an adviser said. Accordingly, her family will be with her in Sedona during this week. Also, a key Alaska staffer joined the Palin operation Sunday.

Gov. Palin is, literally, a fish out of water.  They’re going to try to spruce up the scenery by putting some props up around her – people with whom she’s familiar and so on.  But the fact remains that she is not someone who has any experience in such environments or in being so long outside her natural habitat.

If she cannot function at what people believe to be her best, which we’re not even sure is adequate for being a VP or president, without the accutrements of her Alaska environment, how in the name of this country’s best interest can anyone suggest that she is prepared to be elevated to president-in-waiting?

The last WSJ item that really hits home as to how wrong McCain’s calculation was with choosing Palin is the campaign’s continued belief that voters don’t care about Palin’s shortcomings when it comes to judging her for the job in question. That if they like her, that’s all that matters.  My opinion? They’re relying far too heavily on Drew Westen’s research on the role of emotion in voting. Westen makes a lot of good arguments for that factor’s role, but it ain’t everything and in this year’s election, it’s even less than it might otherwise be.  Here’s the quote:

“We’ve got four days,” another adviser said Sunday. “People love Sarah Palin and she’s got a unique personality and presence we need to bring out — not shut down.” Aides will work with her this week to be certain her responses use “her words,” this adviser said. [my emphasis]

I love a lot of people. But I have judgment and discretion and can think critically – as can many if not most voters.  So, beside the fact that she does not side with me on pretty much any issue, is the fact that she is not qualified to be vice president of the United States of America.  And it is that latter fact that should govern how people vote.

Frankly, to suggest that this election for president is or should be judged like a popularity contest is just another sexist and patronizing view typical of the McCain campaign.

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By Jill Miller Zimon at 11:03 am September 29th, 2008 in Barack Obama, Debates, Joe Biden, John McCain, Politics, Vice President, WH2008 | 4 Comments 

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