It’s an interesting thing watching the debates from abroad because I am seeing them a day or two later than when they took place. I’ve already heard the press coverage, which in the UK decreed the vice-presidential debate a draw, neither harming nor helping either campaign. There was the admission that Palin had held her own in contrast to the snippet of her unraveling in the Katie Couric interview which was also widely shown on British news outlets. I am beginning to think what we saw of that in the UK was as edited as the snippet of the Queen storming off during an Annie Lebovitz photo session last year, which cost a BBC producer his job.
For my money, defeat looks like Joe Biden, that is if I could get him to look at me. He spent the whole debate making eye contact with Gwen the moderator, which seems like a waste since I’m pretty sure his ticket already has the black, female vote sewn up. It didn’t help that he smiled like the joker whenever Palin delivered a blow or referred to himself in the third person ala Bob Dole.
But it didn’t really matter what Biden did because I wasn’t paying attention to him anyway. The debate was like watching a Destiny’s Child video and Sarah Palin was Beyonce. I couldn’t take my eyes off her as she winked, hokumed, and “you-guys”-ed her way through the questions.
I admit I have formed a minor obsession with Palin, and after a bit of soul searching I think I’ve figured out why. She is another embodiment of Amber the homecoming queen, student body president, and cheerleader. Watching her I regress twenty years, simultaneously seduced by and jealous of the most popular girl at school. Nobody is paying attention as I wave my straight A’s in the air; they’re all watching Amber do the splits.
As in high school I am lacking the maturity to resist the petty swipe. And so I invite Ms. Palin to make use of her newly acquired passport to come see for herself what a healthcare system “controlled by the feds” really looks like. I think she’ll be pleasantly surprised.
