Tikun Olam-תקון עולם: Make the World a Better Place

My wife played the flute very seriously for many years and attended the Kinhaven summer music camp as a teenager. One of her friends from that era and who is currently a professional musician sent her the link to this video of Sarah Palin’s performance at the 1984 Miss Alaska competition. What you have to be truly thankful for is that it lasts only 2:47 and you don’t even have to watch all the way through if you find the experience too excruciating. If you love music, I warn you, it will be hard to listen to this. I don’t think I’ve heard so many separate instruments play so off key all at the same time.

The only reason I’m featuring this is that it occurred to me that her performance is a metaphor for the disastrous performance of the past seven years of the Bush presidency and an augury of what the future could hold in store should the nation choose Sarah and that other guy she’s running with.

I know it’s easy to call this a cheap shot, low blow to feature a video produced 25 years ago that makes her look pretty silly. It’s clear that no matter how badly I think of her as a candidate, she’s a formidable politician who shouldn’t be taken lightly. And videos like this do tend to dismiss her as a rube, which she is not. All that being said, this too is part of her past and she’s got to learn to live with it.