What ever it takes.

As Niccolo Machiavelli said “The ends justify the means”. This means do whatever it takes to reach the goal that has been set. Sarah Palin, the governor of Alaska is Senator McCain’s choice for the Vice President position. She is a conservative republican, who is far right in the political spectrum. She gave her speech accepting her Vice president nomination at the national republican convention. She uses her speech as a means to the white house.
Governor Palin opens her speech with an introduction to her family. She does this to connect to the people of the United States because everyone has a family. For instance she explains how she met her husband: “we met in high school, and two decades and five children later; he’s still my guy”. This builds a bridge to the rest of America because it displays her commitment, and builds a bridge to the voters of America. She does all this to attract attention to her and get the vote from the families of America. Everything she says is planned to show a positive light on her. But who does not try to make themselves look good in speeches?
Palin also goes on the offensive and puts Senator Obama down in several comments. For example, during the speech she states “a small town mayor is sort of like a community organizer, except that you have actual responsibilities”. Seeing as Senator Obama was once a community organizer, she uses that as a way to diminish his professional experience. Magnifying the opponent’s weakness is a great way to make one’s campaign look much stronger.
She attacks Senator Obama again in the middle of her speech. She states that Obama has never authored “a single major law or even a reform, not even in the state senate”. This tactic is insightful because they point out the weakness in the opponent’s game plan. Using this offensive maneuver while supporting it with her own ideas to improve the country; makes a tough candidate to beat.
She also promotes her ideas for improving America. She has a plan to “challenge the status quo, to serve the common good, and to leave the nation better than when we found it”. To do this she has plans to produce America’s own oil and gas. For example, if she wins she plans to “lay more pipelines, and build more nuclear plants, and create jobs with clean coal, and move forward on solar, wind, geothermal, and other alternative sources”. All those points are good for the economy of the United States, and because the economy is terrible right now, she will earn lots of votes with those points. Stating specific ways to solve problems is a good tactic to win peoples votes in an election.
She makes plans to win the war in Iraq. This is a controversial topic because not everyone wants to fight the war anymore; many people want our leader to pull us out of the Middle East. She explains how Senator Obama “is a man who can give an entire speech about the wars America is fighting and never use the word victory except when he is talking about his own campaign”. Sarah Palin clearly wants to win the war in Iraq, but it is controversial if the rest of the country wants to win the war. She backs her statement with her son’s enrolment into the military and her nephew’s joining of the Navy. This makes her claims more feasible because it shows that she is not a leader who sends men to their death and does not feel the hardships of war. Her family is taking the same risks that many other families are taking which make her stance on war stronger.
Sarah Palin uses McCain’s military experience to persuade the public. She preaches that the times McCain spent in Vietnam as a Prisoner of War are much tougher than the times he will spend as president. For instance she explains how being in Vietnam is “a long way from the fear, and pain, and squalor of a six by four cell in Hanoi, to the oval office”. As a Prisoner of War McCain was tortured, malnourished and beaten, but he still fought through the pain. His determination can continue into the white house, where he will once again fight for his country.
Governor Palin includes many tactics in her speech. She uses her family to connect with the public, she uses the offensive to bring her opponents down, and she uses her own ideas and plans to improve America. She also plans to finish the war in Iraq; she has two family members entering the war, and a running mate who knows how wars are fought. All this combined are the means for her to win the election and reach the White House, and she will do what ever it takes to reach that goal.


With Age Comes Wisdom

Parents often have different perspectives than their children. These views are often created by the environment around them. Different generations have conflicting opinions on various subjects, including politics. Sarah Palin made a speech at the republican convention which had a controversial result. People’s opinions changed after hearing this speech, and people of different generations, change their opinion because of different reasons.
Social circles are what cause the change in political opinion between generations. Social circles influence your opinion on everything, including all relates to politics. Sometimes parents are in the social circle which influences the child to have the same political views or opposite views. The youth today tend to talk to their friends more than their parents, which results in their political views opposing the older generations. Political issues magnify the contrast between the different generations and their opinions.
Palin introduces herself in the speech by discussing about her family. She explains how she is a mother and has several kids: “Our family has the same ups and downs as any other, the same challenges and the same joys…”. The introduction of her speech is about her family, which might attract attention to older adults because they can relate to those topics. These younger voters do not have those experiences and therefore cannot relate to Palin. The youth want information that would help them decide who to vote for, such as her qualifications or experiences. She brings out the controversial family topic into the speech, while her party acknowledges that family issues such as Palin’s daughter’s pregnancy is personal and should not be discussed. This is hypocritical because Palin uses her family for her benefit, and does not let the other party counter the argument. This is something all generations can agree on.
Towards the middle of the speech, Palin attacks Senator Obama. She mocks Obama’s experience as a community organizer. For example, during the speech she emphasizes “A small town mayor is sort of like a community organizer except you have actual responsibilities”. These attacks on Obama may be successful on the younger voters or for voters who do not do their research on the presidential candidates. Obama was a community organizer, roughly twenty years ago, since then, he has graduated from Columbia university, he was a public official in Illinois for eight years, he was the president of the Harvard Law Review, and was the Illinois state senator for eight years and a United States senator for four years. For the people who have done the research, Palin’s attempt at mocking Obama clearly portrays Palin’s ignorance. These attacks can send the wrong message to the voters. The older generation or people, who know Obama’s credentials, see the attack as a sign of weakness because the Republican Party has no plans to improve things themselves. The younger generation or those who do not follow politics will hear this and immediately think that Senator Obama is not qualified. Through the attacks on Obama, one can perceive how different generations view politics differently.
She does go over some policies in the middle of her speech. She talks about how she will create alternative energy and drill our own oil. The people of younger generations will not want to drill our own oil. They would prefer alternate recourses to conserve the environment that they will be living in. Environmental issues in general are big issues that younger generations focus on because the problem has been passed onto them by their parents. They can vote for Palin because of her statement to use alternative energy. But Obama also intends to use alternative energy which nullifies Palin’s statement. Younger generations might also be against drilling our oil to conserve the environment. Palin talks about being bullied by Iran, when in reality, the United States gets a majority of its crude oil from Mexico and Canada.
Sarah Palin speaks of plans to win the war in Iraq, but the war in Iraq has been over for several years. For example, she criticizes Obama by stating “this is a man who can give an entire speech about the wars America is fighting and never use the word "victory" except when he's talking about his own campaign”. There is no reason to be in Iraq as of this point and some older generations know what it’s like to be in combat. They witnessed death and loss of friends; they would not want younger generations to go through the same scenario for no reason. If McCain is unable to continue as president, many people would not be comfortable with Sarah Palin as president. She would have soldiers fighting for no reason instead of focusing on the countries problems. The younger generations also have strong feelings about this topic because many of them have enlisted or have relatives enlisted in the military. They do not want to die or have their family members die for a lost cause. Both generations can have similar opinions.
While different generations have conflicting views on countless topics, they can also agree on just as much. It is impossible to say that the generations all think alike because one can classify generations into smaller groups as well. But each generation has a different perspective on life and environments shape their opinion.