...is not Republican vs. Democrat, conservative vs. liberal.
The real division in this country is between those who think and value education, scholarship, reason and wisdom in our leaders, and those who think any old Joe the plumber or snarky Sarah can pontificate about foreign policy or lead the country.
Thinking Republicans and conservatives, for instance, even if they support McCain, have determined that Sarah Palin is not qualified to be president. The latest is former Secretary of State Lawrence Eagleburger. While he still supports the Republican ticket, he says he prays Palin would not have to take over the presdidency. Colin Powell, who does not support McCain, also thinks she is a disaster. Other Republicans have come out for Obama, or expressed concern about Palin's knowledge and wisdom, and I imagine many more who say nothing will silently vote for Obama in the privacy of the voting booth.
Newspaper endorsements are going more than two to one for Obama, even in some right leaning papers. Educated people, by far, are supporting Obama. People in cities are supporting Obama. The demographic that appears to be the strongest for McCain is the rural, uneducated and "low information" voter. Of course, some are voting for McCain simply out of party loyalty, while others still maintain Republicans are better on cultural - religious issues.
But in this election year, after eight years of a low information president, a president who has clearly made a mess of everything, it seems the high information voters, the educated Americans, those who think as well as pray, want the most intelligent presidential candidate and the most qualified vice presidential candidate to run the country.
It's no longer good enough to let a good old boy ascend to the presidency. It's no longer okay to say you want a president you can have a beer with - at least to those who value expertise and intelligence.
The history books will say, should Obama win, that Sarah Palin was the final nail in McCain's presidential coffin. In a year when the high information voters (including all those young college students) outnumbered low information voters, Sarah Palin was an insult.
Her crazed supporters may love her because she is folksy and like them, but the rest of us find her presence on the ticket a slap in the face to Americans who have watched a dimwit run the country into the ground over the past eight years. With all the talented people that still remain in the Republican Party, it is astonishing that McCain would choose Sarah Palin and her dysfunctional family to appeal to the rural, uninformed and often racist voter.
John McCain insulted thinking Americans when he chose her, and with that one decision disqualified himself from being the chief decision maker in the country.
