I thought a lot of Michael Jackson’s musical contribution. His talent was not thwarted in my mind by his lifestyle and accusations, real or otherwise, against him. He was stellar and I understand putting him in a category with Elvis and Diana. Yet I do not understand the obsession with celebrity to an almost religious importance. Perhaps I just answered my own question.

There is a different kind of obsession with Sarah Palin. Personally I do not think she was presidential timber and her duration on the stage may have been one of those political hiccups soon forgotten. Time will tell. But the obsession against her by the wicked tongues of the likes of Maureen Dowd and so many others seems obsessed with trite and the joy of cynicism. Eric Hoffer noted “It is easier to hate an enemy with much good in them than one who is all bad.” He also suggested that some movements need a belief in a devil more than a belief in a god.

But the other obsession with Palin was from her supporters and she served an even more valuable purpose for them. For a brief moment she showed a regular person could have a voice and it gave many a hope that I do not believe those who vetted her expected. To her followers Palin was real in a way none of the other candidates were, not only despite her faults and problems, but because of them. The political wall gets higher by the day and each side seems to have less understanding of the other.

The leader we need can bridge that wall.

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