Maverick? Really?

By Corey Vas

Like millions of Americans I eagerly anticipated and watched last week’s vice presidential debate between Sen. Joseph Biden and Gov. Sarah Palin. I watched with great enthusiasm as Gov. Palin seemed to hold her own against the much more experienced Sen. Biden. She appeared more prepared and eloquent than I thought she would, and Sen. Biden appeared more human and approachable than I thought he would.

I don’t really know if that debate will change much in the November election but I noticed an odd sensation once the debate was over that I could neither escape nor ignore.

When the debate ended, I flipped through the channels listening to various pundits, talking heads and spin doctors offer their opinions on what had just transpired. I sat with anticipation hoping that someone, anyone, would address what was undoubtedly unsettling my stomach, if not my very heart and soul. It was this issue of the word “maverick.”

Gov. Palin must have used the word “maverick” 600 or 700 times in the last half of the debate. Actually it was probably more like six or seven times, but just felt like 700 to me. It appeared to me that she was using “maverick” to separate herself and Sen. McCain from what she was labeling as “Washington insiders.” It seemed that she was working on building the argument that she and would-be President McCain would be different once they reached office because they don’t follow the party line and they do what makes sense to them.

Sen. Biden openly addressed his stance that Sen. McCain was not in fact a maverick at all, at least not on any of the issues that really mattered to middle-class America. I thought at the time that his response to Palin’s constant references to mavericks was right. However, something else occurred to me that made me feel highly uneasy. It was something Biden and the rest of the Democrats seemingly ignored.

Therein beats the heart of my discontent. Many analysts following the debate pointed out that Palin seemed to go out of her way to distance McCain and herself from Still President Bush. (Thanks for that line to Jon Stewart of The Daily Show!) Yet what I was reacting to was that every single utterance of the word “maverick” only made me think of one person… President Bush.

Maverick = disregarding the will of the people

For the last 7.5 years the executive branch of this government has been headed by a man who has certainly given the appearance that he was willing to do whatever he felt like regardless of what the people wanted or whether it was in the best interest of the country. I feel like his 19 percent approval rating justifies my stance on this. This is what I think of when I hear “maverick.” His smirking, condescending I-know-better-than-you speeches are what I think of when I hear “maverick.” His “I’m the Decider” line is what I think of when I hear “maverick.”

During the debate I kept waiting for Biden to link Palin’s use of the word maverick to President Bush. After the debate I kept waiting for somebody to point out that connection between “maverick” and Bush. No one did. I felt sick. I still feel sick. Had Biden made that connection, it very likely would have forced Palin, if not the entire Republican candidacy following the debate, to take another tack. At the very least, it would have made the audience conjure up an image the Republicans are hoping to avoid every single time she would have said the word.

This election has clearly been about change. Both parties are talking about it. Both parties have insisted that their ticket is the way to bring about that change. What scares me to death is the idea that McCain and Palin are openly flaunting this notion of “maverick” as though it were a strength when, really, that attitude has been central to the very problems we’re currently experiencing. Despite their willingness to metaphorically throw President Bush under the proverbial bus, what I heard was Palin endorsing the notion that being a maverick is a good thing.

Regardless of who “won” the debate, and regardless of who wins the general election in November, my hope for our country is that we do achieve some significant level of change. Biden pointed out that this will be the most significant election in dozens of years precisely because of the mess this country has made for itself. If any part of that is due to having had a “maverick” in office for almost eight years, then my hope is that the next several presidents spend more time listening to the people and doing what they want rather than the model we’ve been living with.

Vas is a licensed psychologist for New Mexico State University and recently moved from being a registered independent to a Democrat.