Female hurricane
published:
Sunday | September 7, 2008
Orville Taylor
In April, the Colorado State University team predicted that 2008 would see a "well-above average" number of hurricanes, with at least one major one hitting the coastal cities of the United States. It was two full months before the start of the hurricane season and then Democrat presidential hopeful, Senator Barack Obama, was in a very close contest with Senator Hillary Clinton, wife of the most popular president in recent years.
Given the split in the middle, it was not surprising that her husband would have pushed his head into the fray. But Bill Clinton was not the threat, because somebody predicted that Obama's nightmare would have come in the form of a woman - and Bill knows. Taking cue from Hurricane Katrina, the dangerous female hurricane that hit the US, the Republican Party has gambled on the female governor of Alaska, Sarah Palin, with the intention of building a levee to stem the storm surge of Hurricane Obama, who is on a direct path to the now ironically-named, 'White House'.
agent of change
National polls indicate that Obama, the 'agent of change,' has a slight lead over the Republican candidate, war veteran John McCain. As much as he tries to distance himself from the failed policies of President George W. Bush, McCain has voted with him around 90 per cent of the times on critical issues, including the ill-advised invasion of Iraq that has taken around 4,000 American lives and costs the American people US$10 billion-US$12 billion per month. Both Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney were strategically absent from the present campaign of the former prisoner of war, who declares that he hates war.
'Anti-war' McCain paradoxically uses his combat service as a selling point. Yet, there are detractors who ask how he got captured in the first place; and Vietnam Veterans Against McCain label him a squealer under pressure and an irresponsible pilot, who crashed six planes. He cannot beat the fresh, internationally exposed and erudite Obama.
Nevertheless, while the contest is obviously between McCain and Obama, the introduction of Palin as McCain's running mate is clearly a strategy to pander to the female voters who are upset that Hillary Clinton lost the Democratic nomination to Obama.
becoming the boss
Palin is a big issue because in the event that McCain dies in office, she becomes the boss. No one is wishing it, but he is the jolly ripe old age of 72. Average life expectancy for American men is 75. Therefore, the statistics are not on his side to serve a full term in the most stressful and important job on the planet. Unlike the Jamaica Constabulary Force, the Mining Ministry and the Customs Department, when the incumbent American president demits office before his term is fulfilled, the vice president gets the job.
The presidency of the United States is not a joke job, although, it has been suggested that at least one clown has managed to win it. Given the resources and hegemony of the US, he or she is effectively the president of the world. In Jamaica, we justifiably make a big deal over the international experience, management abilities and qualifications of our prime minister and aspirants to the position. Few people, including a minority of Americans, would give George W. Bush a passing grade for his tenure.
One major handicap he had was an ignorance of anything not American. It is rumoured that prior to his election, he had never left North America and that perhaps explains why he made such an enormous mistake in searching for 'weapons of mass distraction' in 'I-Rak', while the real threat was from the Taliban, who merely crossed the border out of Afghanistan, and 'Osama Bin Hidin'. His pursuit of the Shiites, 'Osamites' and Saddam and others, inside of Iraq, must have been the greatest act of ignorance of the century.
Woman time now or not, Palin simply is not qualified to run the world. She has hardly been anywhere and did not even own a passport before 2007. Prior to her ascendancy to the governorship of the state, she was mayor of a hamlet. A former beauty queen, she is less attractive than our 1993 Miss World, who incidentally, has a currently active hurricane, Hanna, sharing her surname. Paling in comparison to Lisa Hanna, Palin has only one degree, and despite her communications major, was not a very convincing reader of the teleprompter last week.
'open land' and wilderness
Her state, Alaska, is one big 'open land' and wilderness. With a size of 572,000 square miles and an population of just over 670,000, it has an inhabitant density of 1.1 persons per square mile. Fewer than a quarter-million households are in that state. She has been its governor since 2006, and was mayor of Wasilla, a town with fewer inhabitants than the student body of the Faculty of Social Sciences at the University of the West Indies. This perhaps means that our portly Mayor of Portmore, Keith Hinds, who could count as double, should, with only a little effort, run for vice president of the US. With the precedents set by some of his colleagues, he or one of the Americans in Parliament, could easily qualify for the job.
Yet, as they push this lady, the Republican Convention seems to be oblivious to the fact that in four days' time, it will be the seventh anniversary of the 9/11 attacks. Three years ago, Hurricane Katrina exposed the inability of America to deal with major natural disasters. Moreover, there seems to be a correlation between the industrial activities of the oil-based American economy and the increased hurricanes.
The president must understand climate, conflicts and change. These are not simply storms in a D cup.
Dr Orville Taylor is senior lecturer in the Department of Sociology, Psychology and Social Work at UWI, Mona. Feedback may be sent to orville.taylor@uwimona.edu.jm or columns@gleanerjm.com
