Sundries

I’ve been losing not a few battles these days, and I don’t even know what war I’m fighting. I suppose as interesting as is the losing is the bare fact of engagement in the first place. Home and school, mothers and daughters, shopkeepers and storeowners, I’ve met and lost to all. My territory has not been invaded, my livelihood unthreatened; nevertheless, I remain combative, as I’m trying to prove something to myself.

Maybe it’s the election season. I watched the Vice-Presidential debate last week. Those whose voices resonate declared it a draw: both succeeded each in her/his own way. Biden showed himself sure and knowledgeable, stately and statesmanlike. Palin didn’t collapse or make a fool of herself, and for that she earned accolades. What does it mean that a Vice-Presidential candidate becomes praiseworthy when she doesn’t humiliate herself or her Party with her remarkably frightening lack of knowledge. Her whole sense of foreign policy derives from having Russia West of Alaska’s water border! And her performance is considered by those who seem to matter to behave been a complete success. That her answers were scripted, that they lacked substance, and that whatever wasn’t written down was left unspoken and assumedly, unknown, doesn't seem to bother anyone. Doggone, what are we thinking when we blithely accept that this person could easily become the President of the United States because she didn’t fall apart in a not-even-rigorous debate format. Of course, Bush never falls apart either, but then, he either doesn’t have a clue (not a bad possibility) or doesn’t give a damn (an equally acceptable explanation).

I am appalled at the possibility that McCain-Palin might become elected. No, I am thoroughly terrified at the prospect. I turn combative, and I am losing not a few battles these days. I just want to get out of here alive.