ONE of Barack Obama's problems in this election is the widespread belief that he is somehow not a normal American—that there's something off about being a skinny, brainy, sophisticate who inquires after the price of arugula and took his wife to a Spike Lee movie on their first date. There seem to be several political motivations behind John McCain's Palin pick, including a desire to emphasise the ticket's common-man credentials. Mr McCain may be a multimillionaire who doesn't know how many houses he has, but he is a war hero wearing a baseball cap, and his running-mate is an all-American gal who loves God, hunting and her high-school sweetheart. Ms Palin is comfortingly everyday in certain ways. She is a hockey mom married to a "dude" called Todd. But some of her cultural signposts are unusual. Relatively few Americans look forward to a heaping helping of moose stew after a bracing day of hunting them. Or this: people in the persuadable middle might be put off by the idea that the Obamas spent years listening to sermons from Jeremiah Wright. But they also might think it's weird that the Palins' pastor says we are living in the last days . Ms Palin's hobbies and personal life are a selling point for the Republicans. Her persona will probably help them, but not quite as much as they hope. In any case this fetish for authenticity is a bad influence on American politics. It creates a favourable climate for demagoguery and pandering. And "n ...
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