The Mirror of The Culture War: Biden vs. Palin

Or Good vs. Not-So-Good

I know that some of this ground has been covered before, but after the Biden-Palin debate, I wanted to revisit it, research it, and emphasize it. I believe that Obama picked Biden for his forthrightness and knowledge of foreign affairs. I also believe that Palin was hastily chosen as a "sign" to the Right Wing Christians. The rallies for McCain-Palin have proven that the radical right needs to vent its frustrations, and not in any respectful way. The rhetoric that McCain and Palin (especially) has used in the campaign, the tone of the campaign's ads, the accusations and implications have given rise to a kind of "mob mentality." Now it has come as a shock to McCain (Palin is clueless) that if you pander to Right Wing Christian leaders, you will inherit their flocks of simple-minded sheep. When he had to correct an elderly lady's impression of Obama as an "A-rab" McCain realized that the victim of his attacks on Obama was not Obama, but the millions of people to whom he was reinforcing negative images.

The difference in the make-up of each side of the campaign has been noted before, but I think it came out strongest at the Biden-Palin debate. It was the culture war come alive. It was the distrust towards intellectuals (or for anyone overtly intelligent for that matter) that exhibited itself in 2000. In fact, I'd go so far as to say that it REALLY became blatant in 2004. It was the culture war, not politics, that gave rise to the term "swiftboating".

(Pew Research - Todd Gitlin*, October 8, 2008)

French philosopher Ernst Renan famously said that a nation was a daily plebiscite. In America, we have a quadrennial plebiscite: who are we? And that’s to be determined in a month. Remember that America was defined from the start as the fruit of an ideology, not a nationality. Therefore, America is particularly prone to culture wars. There is no American nationality. So the question of what holds the nation together, of who belongs here, of what this stands for, is a matter open to debate. America is a way of life, in other words, a culture.

Right Wing Christianity is trying to make itself the sole American Culture. I pity America if it does.

*Todd Gitlin is professor of journalism and sociology at Columbia University, where he also oversees the Ph.D. program in communications.