Billy can hit home runs, and quickly dominates the Minor League. He’s eager to make the jump to the Major League. However, the coach sees a hole in his swing and he is sure the pitchers in the Majors will see it too. Billy gets angry at the coach, and derides him for holding him back from the Majors. The coach patiently tries to reassure Billy that he (Billy) still has some more skills to develop before he will be successful in the Majors.
Billy convinces the front office of the team to promote him to the Majors, and he heads off to Big League play. As predicted, the pitchers at that level quickly discover his weakness, and he flops, being sent back to the minor leagues, and back to his coach. Humbled, Billy finally takes to the advice his seasoned coach has to offer him on his swing, and eventually goes back to the Major league fully developed and prepared to be successful.
This plot line comes to mind as I watch Sarah Palin. She seems to have potential. And that is exactly what I thought two years ago when she first came on the scene. I somewhat expected to see more flash than substance at first, but I hoped the substance would come along. While I continue to consume what she has to offer, I've noticed that I never get filled up. She sticks it to D’s with such fervor and effect that a part of me is really satisfied. But I just haven’t seen the substance. It’s a bit like cotton candy – really tasty, but ultimately lacking.
I wonder if she’s not a bit like Billy “Downtown” Anderson, pushed to the Majors before she was ready. What worries me is that the throngs of people out there who are consuming the cotton candy with such glee that none of them are noticing that they’re not filling up, and there’s no real nutrition.
Scott Brown could be another Billy Anderson. Moments after his historic win in Massachusetts, the blogs were afire as to whether or not he would run for President. With a Buzz Lightyear jaw, a National Guard background, and a political homerun under his belt, some are seeking to push him into the Major League before he is ready.
Winning the Presidency is not the end game here. We forget that. Winning the Presidency is a means to a greater end. The greater end is enacting policies that will bring greater freedom, prosperity, and security to the American people.
President Obama is, I think, a Billy Anderson. From his party’s perspective, he had a lot of talent and potential. But rather than putting him through the necessary drills and development that is required of any great and effective leader, they shoved him (granted, he didn’t need much shoving) into the Major League before he was ready. And the result is a picture of him standing next to a picture of Jimmy Carter with an "=" sign between them on the cover of “Foreign Policy” magazine. By no one’s measure (except, perhaps, Jimmy Carter’s) is that a good thing.
Where are the Dwight Eisenhowers of American politics? Where are the folks who have depth, experience, have been through rigorous testing, and have failed some, but succeeded at most? Why don’t the American people support those who HAVE been there and done that? That’s who I’m looking for. Give Scott Brown a couple decades of testing in the trenches. Send Sarah Palin back to the Minors to fix the hole in her swing.
I don’t want a Billy “Downtown” Williams in the White House, regardless of which party he (or she) is in. If it’s an R, it’ll make us look bad and is ineffective. If it’s a D, we (R’s) can never truly make a good case that the D’s governing philosophy is ineffective because folks can always blame the failure on the lack of experience, not the liberal philosophy.
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