OK, worried now ...

[saavedra77]

"In this hyperdemocratized society, the national conviction that anyone can succeed is morphing into a belief that experience and knowledge may almost be disqualifying credentials."

Comments

[morganminstrel.livejournal.com]

See, the thing is that this article is centered around eight working mothers from a conservative area of a historically conservative state, and tries to extrapolate a larger point from those interviews. One that might not be as valid elsewhere in the country--or elsewhere in Virginia, potentially.

I think it's perfectly fine to be concerned, but I don't know that this article, in and of itself, is really an indicator of anything more than "Sarah Palin is really popular among people who probably weren't set to vote for Obama anyway." YMMV.

[saavedra77.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I agree: In themselves, these anecdotes--largely from people who admit that they were going to vote for McCain anyway--don't amount to much.

I think that I'm actually more triggered by an interview I heard yesterday with pollster John Zogby: Zogby talked about how it's not really "issues" that decide elections, but personalities and "character", and that (with occasional exceptions) Democrats tend not to get this, or to be very good at campaigning this way.

Not that the Democratic candidate is exactly boring. I just wonder whether the G.O.P.'s--and especially Palin's--efforts to paint him as a do-nothing snob will prove effective with others besides the group described in this article.

[morganminstrel.livejournal.com]

McCain's campaign manager has come out and said that this election isn't about issues. To which I replied, Then wtf is it about?

I think the big difference between now and 2004 (which had a similar issues/personality dichotomy) is that this time we have a candidate with actual charisma. Apparently (I don't stay up that late) Obama killed on last night's Letterman. I hope he and Biden continue to hammer on the issues, honestly. That's how you counter the whole "snob" thing--"Oh yeah? Well, here's how I'm gonna make your life better. What are they saying about that? So who's the do-nothing now??"

Yeah, yeah, I know, woefully naive. But I have to have hope that people are more intelligent than we take them for, right? Right?

Ok, now I've depressed myself... ;-)

Gag me

[delerium69.livejournal.com]

Except it's crap. She's not like them - she's a fucking governor fer chrissakes. She doesn't have to worry about the same day-to-day issues as the average working mother. And she has a husband who is a stay-at-home father. Only people who are fairly well-off can survive nowadays on one income. How do these people believe in this twaddle? And where do they keep getting the idea that the president (or vice-president) isn't supposed to be smarter than them? I didn't understand it with Bush, and I don't understand it now. They're running a country not a candy store.

[delerium69.livejournal.com]

"Democrats tend not to get this"

Bill Clinton got it. That's why he was so successful. He even survived impeachment.

[saavedra77.livejournal.com]

Like I said "with occasional exceptions"--Clinton being the most prominent of the past generation.

But I think it's more a knack, a gift, than something you "get," per se.

Re: Gag me

[saavedra77.livejournal.com]

We've apparently got an amazing number of people out there who are desperate for validation, for vicarious success. What they're getting in their real lives isn't nearly enough. I think the American Idol pop-culture references cited in the article are just symptoms.

[feyandstrange.livejournal.com]

As the _Economist_ recently said (mangled by my memory): "Isn't America *supposed* to be a meritocracy?"