Sign of the Apocalypse - Sarah Palin

Our new President has been in office for just over six months now, which means the 2012 election campaign is heating up.

With unpaid stimulus bills and rising unemployment, the kinks in President Obama's armor are starting to show. On the first day he created the heavens and earth, and on the second he increased fuel efficiency regulation in cars, and on the third he closed Guantanamo, but still, not enough to hit messiah just yet.

Thankfully, when the going gets tough, the tough quit their government civil-service job and rely on that multi-million dollar book deal they received when they ran in the last election to get them by.

We all know Sarah Palin because she is a smart woman. Maybe not book smart. Maybe not politically smart. The sort of smart she is is the dangerous kind. America smart. Hollywood smart, even.

From the first moment McCain introduced Wasilla Main Street's golden child and revitalized a failing campaign, all the way to "drill baby, drill", what her speeches lack in context she more than made up for with pizazz. She knows sound bytes. She knows intrigue. She knows that she can garner the sympathy of the world by pulling the concerned mother card when the media questions her morals vs her daughter's teen pregnancy. Hate her or no, admit it: she's good.

Tragically, Palin's 2012 Presidential bid will require America to actually pay attention to context, something of which we're increasingly incapable. While the drawdown in Iraq continues, and the war in Afghanistan ramps up, it's not Obama's foreign policies that we're concerned about, it's how well he slaps a fly. One need only to look at YouTube to prove this: Obama's policy-defining speeches on Iraq and Afghanistan combined have only received 1/4 as many views as him slapping a fly.

Obama is not absolved of this, either. His three-word campaign mantra had less context than Palin's (drill baby, drill!), and his speeches, while well-crafted, occassionally sacrifice detail for rhetoric (except his exceptional Flag Day Proclamation).

The question then is can America's attention span handle context. Can we remember all the way back to December when Palin stumbled over basic interview questions (similar to George W. Bush's 2000 bid)? Can we force ourselves to click to the Washington Post, LA Times or New York Times, instead of CNN.com's "Squirrel Hidden in Woman's Cleavage"?

So can we, or is this all just another sign of the apocalypse?