Palin Pop
February 26, 2010
Sarah Palin isn’t against big government. She isn’t anti-abortion in any politically meaningful sense. She isn’t a foe of feminist entitlement. And she isn’t very bright. What is she? In the words of Newark Star-Ledger columnist Paul Mulshine, Palin “is not so much a political figure as a sort of national fertility symbol.”
The former Alaska governor has long ceased to be an interesting political novelty; she’s downright scary. Republicans continue to swoon over a woman who has all the political gifts of a talented high school student council president, who abandoned her elected office to become a TV star and who has made her eldest daughter’s life a sordid national drama. Some accuse Palin detractors of elitism. Sarah’s poor diction and lack of thoughtfulness are actually credentials, as if conservatism and mental dimness were synonymous. Republicans have a good chance of reclaiming the White House in three years. For this?
If Palin were a principled woman, her you-betcha, sing songy, pom-pom waving cheers would be bearable. The problem is, she is not a principled woman, politically or personally. As Elizabeth Wright puts it at Issues and Views:
It’s been repeated so many times and it appears to be true. That is, conservatives take longer to internalize and promote the politically correct dictates that liberals concoct. In other words, liberals invent some platitude or piece of dogma that becomes standardized in the public mind. Conservatives initially fight the new mandate, but then, before you know it, they have joined the liberal bandwagon. They then set about denouncing others for a lack of enlightenment, as they help to disseminate the very terminology or social trend they once sensibly scorned and ridiculed.
Palin is, to borrow her own phraseology, a “hopey-changey” pop star.
— Comments —
N.W. writes:
Sarah Palin stole the “hopey-changey” line from Mark Steyn. I thought it was pretty darn’d funny when I first heard him use it in one of his columns. I guess, coming from her, it seems to confirm the suspicion that she’s a little bit under educated, as it were.
Laura writes:
Okay, so she does read.
Markus writes:
I’m not schooled enough on the intricacies of feminism and the backlash against it, so I can’t comment on Palin in relation to feminism as you have commented in a previous post. However, as a politician who wants to set and influence policy for the rest of the world as president, she is truly terrifying. During the last election, the fawning imbecilic flattery of her was utterly nauseating. Especially the comparisons to Margaret Thatcher and Angela Merkel. Utterly ludicrous. Both Merkel and Thatcher gained good educations (Merkel is a physicist and a PhD at that.), spent substatnial time cutting their teeth in government on the national level, and had grown up in very lean times.
My problem with Palin is that she has ghosted to where she is because of her effective interpersonal skills (down-homeyness) apparent wholesomeness and good looks. No actual knowledge of geography, history or economics outside a very narrow sociocultural milieu. She is totally ignorant about the world outside her narrow sphere, but will make a very attractive talking head to be manipulated by the real powers behind the scenes. She is uterly unfit to make any real policy decision at a national (probably even state) level.
I’d just love to have seen Thatcher and Palin (transported back in time 30 years) planning strategy to contain the Soviet Union back in the day. Thatcher’s intellectual toughness would have simply dismantled Palin like a tinkertoy structure; a discombobulated mess of parts on the floor would be all that remained.
She comes across as a reasonable wife and mother (I wouldn’t blame the daughter’s pregnancy wholly on the Mum as some like to. Bristol can make her own decisions, and made the wrong one here) and is preferable to a shrill harridan like Pelosi. She’s is just totally out of her depth even as governor.
Laura writes:
Yes, I agree. She is out of her depth.
Of course, Bristol’s pregnancy is not wholly the fault of her mother and father. A 17-year-old should not have the opportunity to be alone with a boy long enough to have sex. But even under the strictest supervision, which it is very clear Bristol did not have, lapses are still possible. The problem is, Palin took the nomination for the vice presidency when her unwed daughter was pregnant, placing her own child in a miserably public position and forcing conservatives to justify unwed pregnancy. (It wasn’t just that Bristol was pregnant; she was unmarried.) Bristol’s situation has since spiraled out of control under the influence of intense publicity. Palin’s grandson has a difficult future ahead. This, as well as her decision to leave the governorship to become a TV star, shows a very serious lack of character on Palin’s part. She is not so utterly unique or irreplaceable to the nation that these actions were excusable; in fact, as you say, she is grossly unqualified.
