I’m not ready to be President either

Well, I guess I’m actually going to do it. I’m going to break a rule I made for myself before I began writing for the Frontiersman. I like writing about things that are off the beaten path from current events. I like writing about daily life stuff; however, against my better judgment, I’m going to write about something that is blazing all over the headlines — Sarah Palin.

(Insert collective ‘gasp!’ here and commence with the shouting and hollering. Go ahead. I’ll wait until everybody calms down before I proceed.)

First of all, let me say I agree that the whole nation seems to be stuck in Palin overdose. It seems we just can’t seem to turn on the news, grab a newspaper or check the Internet without seeing her name somewhere. Frankly, I can’t tell if it’s due to an honest addiction by the public or if it’s something only the mainstream media wants to feed us, like it or not. After months of silence regarding the topic, this past week’s fiasco regarding the release of her emails was my last straw.

It was a big, smug “I told you so” moment for me and I’m relishing in it. It was a moment that reminded me of the frenzy a few years ago when Geraldo Rivera had us all glued to our TV sets as we watched him reveal Al Capone’s vault only to discover … broken glass bottles. Oh the shock! The media had been practically drooling over the idea of getting their hands on Sarah’s emails where they were sure they would find intrigue, smoking guns, dirt and juicy gossip. Instead, they got bland details of a governor being a governor. Anybody else recall that sound the Pac-Man video game used to make when you lost?

This was the defining moment when even those who stubbornly cling to the notion that there isn’t a bias regarding much of the modern, mainstream media had to admit that there’s an agenda. Yes, yes, I know. FOX swings to the right. Got it. I think we can all agree on that.

But honestly, who still doesn’t see that you have FOX on the right and dang near every other outlet on the left? Even Hollywood celebrities and Jon Stewart had to call it like it is after the big email hype. This is why I, like many of you, don’t cling to one source of news, but instead choose to get my information from various sites and put together the big picture. I don’t watch FOX. I don’t watch MSNBC or read The New York Times. I scour the Associated Press and other sources and look for the common denominators. I toss out adjectives and other bits that are surreptitiously tossed in an article in an effort to influence my opinion. The whole time I’m doing it, I resent that I have to in the first place.

After all, why the big push by the media to get their hands on Sarah’s emails while at the same time there’s no big concern over President Obama’s college transcripts or where he went as a young man when he left the country for a few years? I’m quite sure he earned good grades and there was nothing out of the ordinary with his travels, but it just strikes me as quite the double-standard regarding the scrutiny placed on one person vs. the endless free passes another gets depending on who has received approval by the media and who hasn’t.

In the workplace, I have always disapproved of tactics used by some members of management to jump on every error or bad decision made by an employee with the hope of gaining enough ammunition to discharge them. A manager once told me about a bad and unpopular employee. My response was, “Why?” If he is truly a poor employee then let him hang himself. No need to pick on him or treat him differently than the rest of the staff. Fair is fair and he will be given the same judgment or leniency that every other employee receives.

In the same light, I abhor the obvious and supreme effort made by many in the mainstream media to put a spotlight on every twitch and scowl Sarah Palin makes. If they don’t like the lady, fine. I can understand that. She hasn’t been exactly enamored with them either. But if they want to truly be objective news reporters, I would expect thicker skins and more effort applied to remaining impartial.

Now before the comment section under this article is jammed with the usual left and right rants, allow me the brief space I have left in this column to express where I stand. I generally and unapologetically favor the right leaning side of politics. I enjoy many, many friends and family who lean to the left. In fact, I probably have more liberal friends than I do conservative friends.

I’m able to do that because, as I’ve said in a previous column, politics don’t make the person. I have and always will be open and interested to hear opposing points of view and weigh them as objectively as I can. I have never personally met Sarah Palin and doubt I ever will. However, while mayor of Wasilla, she would visit with my grandmother and several other residents at the Wasilla Senior Center.

No cameras, no reporters. Just a woman who would take time out of her day and show up with a smile on her face and was pleased to talk to them about their thoughts about any topic. She was very genuine and sincere. As far as I’m concerned, she was — and still is — a very nice lady.

Do I think she’s ready to be the next President of the United States? Probably not — at least not yet. But then, I don’t think the current president was ready to be President of the United States either. I also don’t think I’m ready to be President of the United States — or my wife. Ditto for most of my friends and family (sorry guys…you know I still love you!) Obviously somebody can be smart, gracious, skilled at oratory and/or writing or otherwise a fine person and still not be ready for a goal so lofty.

Hopefully this was the pin that burst the frantic media’s collective bubble. It would be nice if they saw this as a wake-up call that the public has grown weary of yellow journalism, arrogance and attempts to create the news instead of simply report it. They were just made fools of and everybody, right and left, is pointing fingers at them and laughing. Time to grow up.

Ben Compton is a Palmer resident and publishes his column under the tagline “Compton’s Corner,” the same title used by his grandmother, Phyllis Compton, a longtime Frontiersman columnist.