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Focus Media (Kigali)

Rwanda: Hockey Mom for President? No Thanks!

Erwin Winkler

12 October 2008

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opinion

I would make a great banker. Not that I have an MBA, or profound economic knowledge. I do know what inflation is though-it's when I have a fight in the bar when I'm charged 100 francs more for my beer. I haven't worked in the financial sector either.

Yet what qualifies me to be a bank manager-or, better, the governor of the National Bank-is the fact that I live in Kimironko next to the BCR imidugudu. That's a lot of houses built by a bank, so lots of points for my banking capability.

That, more or less, is why Sarah Palin, the nominee for vice-president of the American Republican party, thinks she is qualified for the job. Heck, she can see Russia from Alaska, where she has been governor for less than two years, so try and tell her something about international relations.

The recent vice-presidential nominees debate was declared a draw by most observers. Not that both contestants eloquently answered the questions with factual and knowledge/experience-based answers.

Democratic nominee Joe Biden did his best-he managed not to live up to his reputation of being long-winded and avoided the gaffes which he has become famous for, such as saying recently that at the time of the 1929 Wall Street crisis, President Roosevelt went on television to say that... except that Herbert Hoover was President at the time, and television didn't exist.

So overall, Biden justified the fact that that he has been senator for 36 years and showed that he is able to take over would anything happen to a President Obama.

Republican Sarah Palin, on the other hand, was judged by different standards. After a few disastrous TV interviews prior to the debate, she was expected to go down big time.

Over 70 million Americans (more than for the first presidential nominees debate) tuned in to see it happen. Yet Palin got through the 90-minute debate relatively unscathed.

Her strategy to do so was simple: learn a few taglines and deliver them whether they are a reply to the moderator's questions or not-she even announced, at the start of the debate, that she would not reply to questions as might be expected, and duly followed up by ignoring some of them.

So Biden competently answered the questions, and Palin just repeated some rehearsed answers, regardless of the questions. And it was called a draw.

It should not be forgotten that, whatever the responsibilities of a VP, his or her first task is to be ready to take over in case the President is not able to rule.

On the Democratic ticket, Barack Obama, 47, is likely to survive his VP Joe Biden, 66. And if something would happen to a President Obama (after all, JFK was assassinated when he was only 45), Biden seems qualified enough to handle things.

John McCain, who would surely make an able President given his experience and knowledge, is 72 years old and has battled cancer. Certain commentators observe that the chances of the VP having to take over during his mandate are one in six or seven.

Enter Sarah Palin, 44. She is the hockey mom, married to Joe Six-pack. A woman who knows everything there is to know about moose-hunting, and probably thinks that can easily be translated into anti-terrorism policies. The same applies to the rules of snowmobiling, which can be the model for traffic-regulations.

A woman who lashes out at Barack Obama for wanting to raise certain taxes, when the tax rates in Alaska are among the highest in the country. A woman who couldn't tell, in a TV interview, which motions on financial market regulation John McCain had ever supported, and was neither eloquent when asked which newspapers she reads.

She hasn't given much thought to climate change either-probably because in Alaska the idea of global warming seems so surreal. During the debate, she remarked that she is not sure whether global warming is man-made ("There is something to be said also for man's activities, but also for the cyclical temperature changes on our planet") but anyway, she didn't want to argue about the causes, she wanted to do something about it.

To which Joe Biden dryly replied: "If you don't understand what the cause is, it's virtually impossible to come up with a solution."

However, you can't beat Sarah Palin when it comes to international relations. Her credentials: among the American states, Alaska is closest to Russia. "They're our next-door neighbors and you can actually see Russia from land here in Alaska-from an island in Alaska," she said in an interview with ABC anchor Charles Gibson.

When asked by Katie Couric of CBS why Russia's visibility enhances her foreign policy credentials, she remained adamant: "Well, it certainly does," Palin replied.

"Our next-door neighbors are foreign countries, there in the state that I am the executive of."

Has she ever been involved in any negotiations with the Russians? Couric asked. Sarah Palin's reply instantly made it into the annals of hilarity: "We have trade missions back and forth, we do. It's very important when you consider even national security issues with Russia.

"As Putin rears his head and comes into the airspace of the United States of America, where do they go? It's Alaska. It's just right over the border. It is from Alaska that we send those out to make sure that an eye is being kept on this very powerful nation, Russia, because they are right there, they are right next to our state."

What nobody noticed-probably because they were all doubled over with laughter-is that the Governor certainly did not participate in many, if any, of these trade missions, since she only got her first passport last year.

Why then, given such obvious lack of experience, is Sarah Palin so popular (and not only with Republicans)? Most neutral observers attribute it to her ability to connect with people, by cultivating her image of the hockey/soccer mom, one of us. Even during the vice-presidential debate, she couldn't refrain from uttering "darn right," "doggone" or "I betcha."

Now nothing is worse than a leader who is out of touch with the people he/she is supposed to rule (just look at Robert Mugabe). So being connected with the common people is essential for a good politician.

On the other hand, in my opinion to become a President (or Veep) you also need some extraordinary qualities or experience, which most people don't have. It should be exactly that competence that gets you elected.

So I find that attitude of "I'm just like you" not reassuring at all; if she's just like me, then I don't see why she is better placed to determine the policies that rule me.

There are other ways in which this attitude doesn't work. Talking in a casual way to supporters at a rally might be endearing, but it sounds awkward during a television debate for the second-highest job in the country.

And the people you will get to meet most once you're elected to that job-big company CEOs, diplomats and heads of state, top-level politicians and advisors, academics-won't really appreciate it if you address them as if you're pals on a salmon-fishing trip.

Secondly, in reply to a question related to the bail-out plan during the debate, Palin once again referred to the common people: "You know, I think a good barometer here... is to go to a kid's soccer game on Saturday, and turn to any parent there on the sideline and ask them, 'How are you feeling about the economy?' And I'll betcha, you're going to hear some fear in that parent's voice."

Apart from stating the obvious-it takes some very disconnected politician not to realize that people are worried-this reply had once again nothing to do with the question.

What is more, when dealing with such complex problems as the financial crisis, I for one am glad that our leaders do not come running to us to ask how to solve it, but turn to highly experienced people such as the chairman of the Federal Reserve, Ben Bernanke, or Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson, who are then scrutinized for us by (hopefully) equally competent parliamentarians.

Which is exactly why Francois Kanimba is governor of the National Bank, even though he might not live next to a neighborhood built by a bank. Yet he knows a thing or two about inflation and recession.

John McCain's campaign slogan is "Country First". When he selected Sarah Palin as candidate for Vice President, he did exactly the opposite: he put his campaign first. It has worked for a while, but with time it has become clear that this hockey mom with the pretty face is indeed no more than that.

Hopefully Americans realize it too, and break their habit of putting incompetent people in the White House. Eight years of George Bush have been enough.

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