I just read an interesting essay in Slate about Sarah Palin’s tendency to put politics into playground terms. I guess “Everything I Need to Know, I Learned in Kindergarten” must have made a huge impact on the former politician because her vocabulary, sentence structure, political understanding, and cultural references don’t really extend past that level.

The Slate article gives examples of how Sarah Palin might take on certain issues with her now signature speeches- it’s definitely worth taking a look at and although it’s satire, it’s the kind of satire that is a little too close to the truth for comfort.

I just read an interesting essay in Slate about Sarah Palin’s tendency to put politics into playground terms. I guess “Everything I Need to Know, I Learned in Kindergarten” must have made a huge impact on the former politician because her vocabulary, sentence structure, political understanding, and cultural references don’t really extend past that level.

The Slate article gives examples of how Sarah Palin might take on certain issues with her now signature speeches- it’s definitely worth taking a look at and although it’s satire, it’s the kind of satire that is a little too close to the truth for comfort.

 At $100,000 a pop for her real speeches, you might expect a little more bang for your buck from you choice in public speaker, than Sarah Palin is capable of,  but I am guessing that her audiences aren’t necessarily the most picky or the most discerning of listeners if her Tea-Party fans are any indication. On the other hand, hearing “You Betcha” just might make them feel like superstars and that someone understands them, regardless of whether she has the capability to understand the deeper issues at hand.

I’ll be honest with you (and this may surprise you), I am not a huge Sarah Palin fan and probably won’t be. That said, now that Sarah Palin is just a reporter/public speaker and is not jeopardizing the world at large by running for Veep, I feel like the world is a safer place. There is no way I would trust that woman as the next person in line for the presidency of the United States.

Of course, Sarah Palin is not the first politician to use the Kindergarten approach to political speaking; when Al Gore found himself debating against George Bush, who is often considered the intellectual star of our times, Al Gore actually said that he would keep social security funds in a lock-box. I’m just happy he didn’t slip up and say, “lunch box”, which is probably where the phrase originated from. And, in Al Gore’s defense, when you are debating against someone whose basic mentality is, “You’re either with us or against us”, it’s not necessarily the time to show the world how smart you are.

Having said that, when the politicians and Rush Limbaughs and Sarah Palins of the world spew their rhetoric, some of the public still trusts them. My only hope is that the American public will wake up get their own thinking capacities beyond the kindergarten level.