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People are wondering if she realizes the extent to which she is being used.
Well, I think probably so. Using, being used--that's the way the world works for someone like Sarah. I'm sure it all feels quite natural to her; she's just been launched into the Big Leagues, but she figures she has the basic skill set to handle it.
People like her (and GWB, for that matter) have no concept of any other way of coping than "fakin' it." Because they have never known anything else, they assume that's the way everyone does it. Image is everything; everyone is a beauty queen. They really have no comprehension of underlying realities; they cannot possibly understand or even imagine the integrity and deep competence of someone like Obama.
The real tragedy is that, in our shallow, media-driven society, this is indeed the way the world works, all too often. That's how Reagan stayed in office, and GWB too. Everything is reduced to sound bites. No idea too complex to fit on a bumper sticker ever makes it into public discourse.
I read excerpts from a transcript of Bush's speech last night. I was impressed by how free it was of ideas, and yet how loaded it was with emotional content. None of what he said was intended to engage the frontal lobes of the audience; it was all addressed directly to the emotional centers. He trotted out all the fear buzzwords in a clear attempt to stampede people into demanding Congress protect them by handing over the ransom money immediately.
Won't it be nice to return to a world in which reason rules again? One in which the collective frontal lobes of America are once again oxygenated and functioning again?
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