Share a Mooseburger with Me, Sarah Palin...

… because I’d like to sit down and have a chat with you.

I listened to your speech last night. I was impressed by your speaking skills. Your tone and delivery were what every SPEECH 60 teacher would want from a student-- clearly enunciated words, appropriate pauses, eye contact with multiple facets of the audience. Bravo!

I waited intently to hear something from you that would confirm you as a politically savvy and eloquent speaker who would share ideas and engender hope; something that would, for once in this generation, provide for the people of the United States a choice between the greater of two exceptional candidates, instead of the lesser of two evils. I am still waiting.

As much as I fully support Barack Obama, there was a part of me, Sarah, who wanted to hear you say something-- anything, really-- that would move both sides of this campaign to a place of great ideas and hope for the future. Even though I have every expectation that my candidate will be the next leader of the free world, I expect that it’s going to be a close race. I had hoped that you, as a clearly articulate and intelligent woman, would help raise the bar of expectation for our nation. I had hoped to hear from you the kind of speech that would promote unity for a severely divided nation, regardless of the outcome of this election. What I heard instead was a lot of grade school name calling and sarcasm.

I thought your comment about how a “small-town mayor is sort of like a ‘community organizer,’ except that you have actual responsibilities,” was thoughtless and petty. I just bet that the people in Chicago’s south side who benefitted from Barack Obama’s ability and experience as a community organizer will tell you that he had a great number of responsibilities, and as we well know, his ability to manage those responsibilities led to vast improvement in that community.

Your community organizer comment also smacks of an elitism that is counter productive to what this nation needs in a time of war, a failing economy, and social denigration. One does not need to be in an elected office to assume the responsibilities of effecting change in our communities, and for our nation. We need a team of people in those two highest offices who are ready and willing to inspire and encourage the kind of individual and mutual responsibility that will make leaders out of all of us; whether it’s in elected office, in our homes, or as an agent for change in our communities.

While both deserve honor and respect, let’s try to keep in mind that enduring torture as a prisoner of war, and wearing the cap of a small town mayor are not the only activities that hone leadership abilities in an individual, and are not the sole justifications for high office.

I hope that you might bear these things in mind over the next two months leading up to the election. Win, or lose, you have a lot to offer this campaign, and I’d sure like to see you rise to the occasion. I exhort you, Sarah, to be the woman, who on the day after the election, is ready to be gracious to this nation, whether you are moving to the nation’s capitol, or, most likely, returning home to Alaska. Let this brief time in which you are making history be an enduring legacy of which we all-- male, female, rural, urban, elected official, or community organizer-- can be proud.