Friday, September 5, 2008

GLITTER OR GAVITAS?

The contrast between the competing tickets in the Presidential race seems to have come to a simple matter of “glitter vs. gravitas.”

I began to see this when I watched the dual interview of Obama and McCain at Saddleback Church. I remember how after Obama spoke, I thought how polished he sounded. McCain was going to have to do pretty well to compete. But when McCain came on, it was clear he was in a totally different league than Obama. Where Obama’s responses were articulate and well reasoned, McCain’s responses took on an air of authority, depth of character and confidence. The contrast was stark. Obama sounded like a decent politician whose rhetoric was nice but superficial. McCain sounded like a leader. One was glitter, the other had gravitas.

Now with McCain’s choice of Sarah Palin for VP we see a team that has a proven record of performance cleaning up government, something many have dismissed as ever being possible beyond theory.

The electorate was ready to settle for promise of change, but now there is a renewed sense of hope in the possibility of real change. Glitter or gravitas.

The choice is ours. I pray we make the right one.