Posted by
Buster Foghorn on Sunday, October 05, 2008 7:34:50 PM
Critics of Sarah Palin’s Vice Presidential debate performance shine their light on her accent, her breezy speaking style, her colloquial speech, questioning if she can be a serious candidate. Are they like Nasrudin, a popular and wise man, in the Sufi tale of the lamp and the lost key?
As the story goes:
One night, Nasrudin was on his hands and knees searching for his key in a well-lit area in the centre of the street. Some of his neighbors came to see why Nasrudin was on his hands and knees.
“What are you looking for, Nasrudin?” enquired one of his neighbors.
“My door key,” Nasrudin replied.
The helpful neighbors dropped to their hands and knees and joined Nasrudin in his search for the lost key.
After a long unsuccessful search, one of the neighbors asked: “We’ve looked everywhere. Are you sure you dropped it here?”
Nasrudin answers: “Of course I didn’t drop it here, I dropped it outside my door.”
“Then, why are you looking for it here!”
“Because there is more light here!” responded Nasrudin.
For all those shining their torchlight of commentary on Governor Palin’s accent, her familiar conversational style, her colloquial use of “you betcha,” “doggone it,” and “soccer Mom,” they need to move, just like Nasrudin, to where the work is harder – they should focus on Senator Biden’s debate performance - the content of his answers.
Senator Obama selected the Delaware Senator to add weight and balance to his ticket. Joe Biden is his foreign policy expert. The 36 year Senator, a member of the Judiciary Committee and Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee allows Barack Obama – a candidate with zero foreign policy experience – to claim he offers a balanced ticket. Unfortunately, Senator Biden gave a performance unworthy of a freshman high school civics student, raising numerous questions about his carefulness, thoughtfulness, and judgment.
The Fox News Special Report commentator Charles Krauthammer noted seven errors on foreign policy in 60 seconds. And National Review’s Jim Geraghty at his blog: “the Campaign Spot,” continues updating his list of Biden errors from the debate: “The Biden Error/Lie/Hallucination List (UPDATED to 22).” His list of errors includes such topics as the role of the Vice President under the Constitution; the range of Pakistani missiles; Barak Obama’s role in West Bank Elections; and the relevance of a McCain vote against “Violence Against Women” legislation when the Supreme Court later ruled the legislation unconstitutional.
The number of errors is troubling; the confident assertiveness while giving so many incorrect answers gives pause for concern – this man could have taught P.T. Barnum a thing or two about audacity. When I review the comments about his answers, I ask myself - What has he been doing in Washington, D.C. for 36 years? Has he learned anything? If this is his best after 36 years, wouldn’t I be better off with a proven governor, a fast study, an outsider at the beginning of a learning curve with significant potential for rapid improvement, an over-achiever like the moose-hunting, point guard in the number two spot?
For me, the Senator’s crowning achievement – talk about a confidence booster that he understands my situation - was his rebuttal to the Wasilla mother of five showing he also knows how Middle America feels. His evidence – he talks to the folks at Katy’s restaurant in Wilmington. Unfortunately, the Senator must reside in a parallel universe (could Geraghty be on to something about hallucinations?) or, more troubling, he hasn’t spoken to an average “Joe Six-Pack” or anyone outside his close circle since 1990 when Katy’s Restaurant closed its doors and went out of business.
Not only is Senator Biden in the dark, but so too are many in the media; unwilling, like the Sufi, to move out from under the light and search through Senator Biden’s answers to expose him for what he is – a caricature of a serious public servant, winging it as he goes along, enjoying the ride in the Senate as much as his subsidized Amtrak commute, all the while proving the Peter Principle is alive and well.