WHO DAT?

As a precocious 7 year old follower of politics in 1952, I joined most of the country in supporting Dwight Eisenhower for President due, in part, to his clever three word campaign slogan, "I like Ike". As expected and hoped for, he won, and only later did I find out that there was a brilliant military strategist and canny politician behind that three word catch phrase.

Fifty-six years later I observed another contender for high office, this time for Vice President, troll for votes on the slogan, "Drill, baby, drill." Scratching the surface of her candidacy for substance I found none. Instead, there was a contender who couldn't tell you what newspapers she read other than "all of them", and who claimed she could deal with our still most potentially dangerous nuclear adversary, Russia, because she can see their leader fly over her nearly connected home state of Alaska when he traveled the world.

Instead of admiration, I was instilled with fear.

A hundred years from now, school children will study the brilliant general and wise President, who on departing office warned of American decline at the hands of the "Military Industrial Complex", a development which may prevent us from even studying him in a hundred years. Upon seeing his visage they will conclude he was someone to like. If shown a picture of the long forgotten Sarah Palin, they will be reduced to just two words: "Who dat?"