A Simple View, A Republican View

A few people have pointed me to Sam Harris's excellent piece in Newsweek that that details exactly why Palin is so frightening a candidate. The truly scary part comes not just when Harris attacks the electorate for liking Palin for her mediocrity, but when he muses on the implications of her rapture-ready world view as well as her complete lack of hesistancy when asked if she was ready for the Presidency. In those decisions, we also see the simple worldview that is also shared by Bush and McCain: they see the world in black and white. We are the good guys, they are the bad guys -- whether it's Russia, Al Qaeda, Iran, or Americans who disagree with them. It's the same view they take on the economy -- it's very simplistic -- all we have to do is cut taxes and not regulate and it all works out. Well, as current events constantly remind us, this simplistic world view doesn't comport to the facts -- not in politics and not in economics.

Take, for example, both Palin and McCain's bellicose statements on Russia. Lost amid all their aggressive posturing was the more noteworthy fact that it was the EU who brokered the ceasefire. Yep, good old fashioned, measured diplomacy won the day -- not a verbal game of Cowboys and Indians.

So the question remains, can Obama convince the electorate that this simple worldview won't fly? I think his new ad hits it right on the money. The ad manages to link both McCain and Bush, as well as the deregulation of the banking industry, to McCain's proposed deregulation of the healthcare industry. The ad is perfectly fair and it will be successful for a number of reasons -- including my belief -- that it embraces the Republican tactic of using fear to win. Now, maybe that's a very cynical view, but I'll take it over a simple one.