It's All Politics: Don't Blink Edition

Fellow Voters,

Blink now! Pause a moment and make sure that your clear vision isn't clouded. Nothing has confirmed my support for Barack Obama and Joe Biden more urgently than the fear I experienced after hearing Sarah Palin say, in her interview with Charles Gibson on ABC:

..you can't blink, you have to be wired in a way of being so committed to the mission, the mission that we're on, reform of this country and victory in the war, you can't blink."

The idea of an under-experienced candidate, an elder heartbeat away from the presidency, pledging to act quickly, impulsively, without pausing to gather the wisdom of her advisors, makes me fear for the safety of our families. It chills me to hear her vow (in an echo of the process that brought us the Bush Doctrine, with which she clearly isn't familiar) not to consider a range of divergent views from which a true leader could select the best course of action.

By choosing Sarah Palin as his potential Vice-President and as our potential future President, John McCain is proposing an inexcusable endangerment to the country he claims to put first.

Please, fellow voters, let's reject the idea that our leaders should make decisions quickly, rashly, according to narrow personal beliefs rather than according to thoughtful consideration of a plurality of expert views and public cries.

Sarah Palin is--to many--an appealing persona, she could break a barrier all women want to see disassembled, and she's benefitting right now from her seat atop a cyclone of sudden celebrity.

But let's spend more time and thought choosing our leaders than John McCain spent interviewing his ticket-mate. Let's blink before we vote against our own economic interests, against the judgment required to avoid unwarranted war, against the hope of undoing the damage of the past eight years.

Blink, Baby, Blink!

Sent by Jennifer Cardillo | 7:20 PM | 9-13-2008