With the ending of the Beijing Olympics, the focus shifts to the Democratic National Convention and the Republican National Convention. Most recently, the focus concentrates greatly on McCain’s vice-president nomination of Governor Sarah Palin. In hopes of picking the right running mate to capture the votes of the American public, McCain comes along Palin and prepares for their tightrope walk to the White House. This demanding activity requires both McCain and Palin to understand certain truths, recognize certain dangers, and remember certain steps.
To fully appreciate tightrope walking, it must be fully understood. Tightrope walking demands balance. For McCain and Palin, this balance resides between leading and the effects of leading. Economic, social, and political conditions turn public focus towards presidential leadership. However, this leadership inevitably satisfies, divides, or alienates people.[i] Therefore, in order for McCain and Palin to be successful, they must perform a balancing act that leads in such a way as to unify as many people as possible and alienate as few as possible. Ultimately, the American judges measure the success of the tightrope walkers by their ability to achieve greatness. The judges of the tightrope event tend to favor activist routines instead of passive routines. They maintain the perspective that great scores require great risk in order to win the gold and the silver. That being said, judges award passive routines mediocre scores.[ii]
While the judges’ scores have meaning, the danger of tightrope walking adds to the value of the scores. In addition to the pressures surrounding tightrope walking, one must understand the dangers of the tightrope. The main danger revolves around the narrowness of the rope. If the foot strays away from the foot, balance fails and gravity intensifies the plummet. The same truth holds to the moral tightrope. When the foot strays from the moral tightrope, a fall of some distance awaits and point deductions incur. Industrial moralists eagerly await each significant event, be it a fall or a successful performance of a stunt, in hopes of grabbing a story.[iii] The industrial moralist helps determine the extent of the deduction based on how well he can connect the moral fall to the person’s morality. Once a connection exists between moral character and a moral fall, judges and opponents gain the power of limiting the person’s power and success in that area.[iv]
It also must be realized that once the tightrope walker plays on the moral appeal, or the knowledge of the narrowness of the rope, he raises the start value of the routine, but he also increases the extent of which he can suffer. Many tightrope walkers put a moral gloss over their routine.[v] McCain’s moral gloss appears in his choice of the slogan “Straight Talk”. He presents the idea that he speaks directly and with truth. His slogan creates a moral tone like that of “‘Great Society’” and “‘Fair Deal’”. This stunt provides the benefit of creating a disadvantage for one’s opponent by suggesting that the other might not be doing that moral action. However, this creates high expectations that intensify the fall if those expectations remain unmet.[vi] Therefore, it must be understood that morality can raise one’s start value and help gain points with the judges, but it can also create dangerous expectations that set one up for failure.
With an understanding of the tightrope routine and an awareness of the dangers the narrow tightrope presents, McCain and Palin must focus and remember their routine. They must remember that they perform on behalf of the American public. Currently, the American public decreasingly trusts the government. McCain and Palin must look to regain that trust by maximizing their strengths. Their main uniformed strength remains their ethics and morals. While Palin appears on the national scene as a new face, her past record adds to McCain’s. Therefore, they must continue to focus on the essential elements of honesty, compassion, perseverance, and courage as Former U.S. secretary of education suggests.[vii] They must help serve as the American anchor.[viii] They must take gold!
[i] Dunn, Charles W. The Seven Laws of Presidential Leadership: An Introduction to the American Presidency. Upper Saddle River, N.J: Pearson Prentice Hall, 2007: 2.
[ii] Ibid., 9.
[iii] ----------. The Scarlet Thread of Scandal: Morality and the American Presidency. Lanham, Md: Rowman & Littlefield, 2000: 3.
[iv] Ibid., 6.
[v] Ibid., 7.
[vi] Ibid., 8.
[vii] Ibid., 11.
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