My career is over, as well as the careers of Tina Fey and perhaps several other “Saturday Night Live” comedians.
With the election of Barack Obama, whose oratory is painstakingly perfect, it will be difficult for me to fulfill my journalistic duty of taking cheap stabs at those in authority. What are journalists around the world going to do without complaining about preemptive strikes, lies about the existence of weapons of mass destruction, leaks of the names of CIA agents, torture at Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo Bay, warrantless wiretapping and endless presidential gaffes being played on YouTube.
I am going to miss George W. Bush, the first and greatest source of criticism in the 21st century. However, this greatness was almost eclipsed by the McCain campaign. Since it wasn’t, journalists all over the world are in trouble. For a journalist, as most people know, must always be cynical, must always gripe and complain and never be positive.
Don’t get me wrong. McCain himself would have been no match for Bush. McCain may have some qualities similar to the waning president, but something about McCain is smarter, trustworthier and more forthright. He has taken stands against the use of torture and has supported progressive immigration reform. He has built a career off of forgiveness for his involvement in the Keating Five scandal.
Sure, McCain may have eventually launched an attack against Iran had he been elected Tuesday. I have considered that to be an unfortunate possibility for McCain all along. But it was only a possibility. And if it did happen, McCain, that maverick, would have personally flown to Iran and tortured President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad with Vietnamese tactics right before slitting his throat.
The real match for Bush would have been Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, the heartthrob of rednecks throughout the South. Next to Palin, Bush is smarter than Stephen Hawking.
Just think about the possibilities for journalists (read: mindless pundits) like me with a vice president like Palin.
Therefore, instead of talking about Obama, let me focus on Palin before she crawls out of the limelight, forever taking away many golden opportunities for me.
After the election, McCain aides have anonymously bashed Palin for costing McCain the presidency, according to ABC News, which cites several reports from Fox, The New York Times and Newsweek.
Some of McCain’s aides said Palin did not prepare well enough for her interview with Katie Couric. They claimed that when she was studying for the interview, she proved to be grossly uninformed, allegedly not knowing Africa was a continent or that the U.S., Canada and Mexico made up the North American Free Trade Agreement.
Aides also said she often got in the way and assumed control. She prepared a concession speech, which she was never allowed to give and which rubbed campaign aides the wrong way. She scheduled a talk with French President Nicholas Sarkozy, which turned out to be a radio prank.
Perhaps worst of all, Palin overspent her provided budget for clothes, buying expensive clothes in the amount of $150,000 not only for herself but also for her family.
Palin made so many campaign insiders furious that one of the top officials told The New York Times concerning McCain and Palin, “I think it was a difficult relationship.”
While other aides disagreed with the above statement, that “relationship” would have been interesting to cover for the next four years. And even the thought of McCain dying as president and being replaced by Palin makes my head explode with would-have-been opportunities.
But, alas, we are about to have a very different U.S. president, and while I didn’t support either Obama or McCain, I will be somewhat happy if Obama can fulfill his promises. Perhaps Obama will transform me into a better journalist by forcing me to look more closely at the issues instead of blatant lies and scandals.
In all sincerity, it is important right now more than ever for Americans to be critical of the president-elect. Obama is already staffing his cabinet, which so far is very similar to Bill Clinton’s. This could indicate that Obama is not as bipartisan as he has made himself out to be, although it is still early. Furthermore, it is going to be interesting to see what Obama does with his gift of a Democrat-controlled Congress. Will he reach across to the other side of the political spectrum?
Will he present change? So far, he has changed at least one thing: unsophisticated politics that take away from constructive criticism.
Matt Watson is the opinion editor of The Reflector. He can be contacted at [email protected].