Still Home, But Call It Progress

I am so pleased to be sitting upright without nausea! Praise be. When I found myself contemplating the plot turns of my latest writing assignment, I knew it was a good sign.

If, like me, you missed the Palin interview, here's some more frightening food for thought (frightening, that is, if you're not an evangelical Christian who views all current events and political developments and leaders through that lens).

Did she hesitate, Charlie Gibson asked, when McCain asked her to be his running mate, did she wonder whether she had enough experience to be, potentially, commander in chief? Palin said, "I didn't hesitate, no . . . . I answered him yes because I have the confidence in that readiness and knowing that 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. So I didn't blink then even when asked to run as his running mate."

Many evangelicals are talking about Palin being like the biblical Queen Esther, who saved the Jews from the genocidal Haman, and believe that Palin has come, like Esther did, "for a time such as this." (The same narrative built around George W. Bush when he was running.) My charismatic source added, "The beauty queen hidden away until an appointed time. The newscaster training, her rise in service, etc. But I just think her authenticity resonates with believers. They feel like she is real. I believe many feel she has been hidden for this time in accordance with God's plan. At least that is their hope."

Shades of George W. Bush again. Here's a reason why I don't really care if Obama (or any given Democratic nominee, really) is sufficiently left for my tastes. I'm longing for some good old-fashioned competence. Hell, I would even settle for a non-corrupt centrist Republican who actually cared about governing. Quite obviously, these feelings of mine are not universal.