Do you have time for a short history lesson? You might already know this stuff, but I found it to be pretty interesting in a Lincoln-Kennedy-history-repeats-itself sort of way.
Let's start with a little excerpt from the interview between Charlie Gibson and Sarah Palin that took place earlier this month:
GIBSON: Have you ever met a foreign head of state?
PALIN: I have not. And, I think if you go back in history and I think if you ask that question of many vice presidents, they have the same answer that I just gave you . . .
Sure, never mind that she can roughly be right, given that international travel wasn't all that feasible for (roughly) half of our history's VP's, with Thomas Jefferson as a notable exception. Still, he makes a good point. If we still lived in the same world they did, with the same economic and foreign policy concerns (or lack thereof), then she would be supremely qualified seeing as how she lives next door to Russia and all. Of course, we don't, do we.
But still, that left me to wonder if Palin was right about the modern era of VP's. My first inclination was to trust her, given her vast knowledge of the job. Nevertheless, I thought I might just look into the subject a little closer to see what I could find.
Now, the first mention I saw of this said you'd have to back 32 years to find a VP who hadn't met a foreign head of state.
As it turns out, though, that isn't quite true, because if you look at when the last VP without foreign policy experience was elected, then you'd have to go back an even40 years ago, to 1968 and Spiro Theodore Agnew, Nixon's VP muscle.
You know Spiro Agnew, right? The man who could cut down anyone or anything with an alliterative assault that would make your seventh grade English teacher proud. In fact, one such quote has, by now, become legendary:
"In the United States today, we have more than our share of the nattering nabobs of negativism. They have formed their own 4-H Club -- the 'hopeless, hysterical hypochondriacs of history.'"
I love it! I wonder if he came up with that one when his teleprompter broke! I bet he didn't even have a teleprompter. I bet he didn't even need notes. Those GOP'ers, man, they are an eloquent bunch!
Anyway, this "nattering nabob" line was actually written by William Safire, and was pointed at the "liberal" media. I hear echoes through the years...
So, maybe Palin can run as the new Spiro Agnew. And, maybe she can crash and burn just like Good Ol' Spiro, too.
Of course, we don't have the time or the margin of error wiggle room to let her do that, not with the possibility of electing the oldest President ever as her running mate and with all this globalization and economic turmoil and such.
You see, ultimately, the problem with Sarah Palin's nomination isn't really about Sarah Palin at all. It's about John McCain's choice in nominating her. At best, it looks like pandering to the Repub base he so often preaches about being a maverick against.
At worst (and most morbidly, I know), McCain choosing Palin as a running mate shows a tremendous lack of planning for the doomsday scenario. Like I said, McCain would be the oldest President ever sworn in should he get elected. That, coupled with his medical history (at least, what we know of it), doesn't make him the safest bet as far as being able to survive the heavy toll the presidency takes. And his backup plan is Sarah Palin? Wow. Maybe "Country First" means throw the country overboard first.
It reminds me of this Hubert Humphrey ad about Spiro Agnew...
Of course, somebody's already made a Palin version of this ad, but I'm not going to post it because, well, it wasn't very good. And, it would just feed into what the Repubs really want...a martyr. (That is assuming that anyone is reading this that remotely supports the McCain/Palin ticket.)
But, you know what? Maybe McCain does have a plan in choosing Mrs. Palin as Potential President. Oh, wow, I just thought of this, but it relates to...you guessed it...Spiro Agnew (I love that guy's name).
John Ehrlichman, Nixon's assistant, counsel and Watergate co-conspirator, once asked his boss why Nixon had decided to keep Agnew on as VP for the 1972 election. This was Tricky Dick's reply:
"No assassin in his right mind would kill me."
I think I'm beginning to see the light, now. McCain's a McGenius!
Charles
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