It appears the McCain campaign has a new tactic for validating Palin’s candidacy: reduce expectations to a bare minimum and appeal to mediocrity. To be clear, I do not believe that mediocrity should be stigmatized. Even mentioning the word in such a context betrays how I feel. But, this new approach again highlights America’s misdirected issue with intellectualism.

Why on earth should the President of the Senate, second-in-command of the United States, be a Joe six-pack? Joe six-packs are fine, but can we stop raping intellect and acting as if the leaders of our country shouldn’t be elite? The argument has been retold ad nauseum: Why do we expect elitism from our athletes, artists, and CEOs while demanding simplicity from the leaders of the free world?

Palin should be intellectual; she should be well-versed in foreign affairs; she should understand the nuances of our domestic issues; and she should be able to demonstrate these competencies at any time to the public. She will make mistakes, no one expects perfection. But we should not encourage simplicity as a characteristic of our representatives on the nationl stage. Our international relations are not simple. Our country’s problems are not easy.

At this point in history, we do not need simple ideas from simple people. We need grand gestures and brilliant strokes of genius. We need creative, eclectic solutions, which aren’t likely to come from Joe six-pack Americans. We all want to be president when we’re young, but there’s a reason almost all of us fail in that ambition: It’s the toughest job on earth.

This once again proves that the McCain campaign will pander in any way they can to the American people. Campaign tactics like these reflect desperation and irresponsibility. Now, I will argue that if they decide to pose Palin as a plainspoken person to connect with the American people, they have a leg to stand on. But, as they have not done that, and as it dawns on the McCain team that their Vice Presidential choice has failed to bolster their candidacy, they are falling back on stunt after stunt to try and climb out of their political trench.