The Tragedy of Sarah Palin
Let's just go ahead and call this thing for Barack Obama. If I've done my math correctly, I'm giving him 369 electoral votes. Clinton-esque numbers.
Now, if you have no interest in talking about the "other side" of politics, consider the above your takeaway.
Take it. Go away (but please come back some other time) while I lament the short, could-have-been-brilliant career of Sarah Palin.
Over the past eight years, the Republican Party has imploded. In this election cycle, the conservative intelligentsia has effectively split from the "base," that portion of the party that is seemingly "excited" or "energized" not by issues of war or oil or the economy but by those that forge a social wedge. Add to that the shifting demographics of America and the Republican Party's woeful inability to attract people of color, and there is a very real possibility that for the foreseeable future the Republicans will be reduced to a nonentity within politics.
The Republicans desperately need their Barack Obama.
It could have been Sarah Palin.
Could have been, except for John McCain's gut-check, Hail Mary, game-changing, unvetted decision to take an inexperienced "small town" politician and dump her on the national stage with little more than 60 days to go before votin' time.
Palin instantly struck a chord with the "don't care about nothing except 'values' portion of the party." What Palin brought to the ticket was an ability to blunt the Democrats' message of change -- personified by Obama and Hillary Clinton and even Bill Richardson on a national level -- while being able to speak the language of "values" with the GOP base.
However -- token hire that she was -- Palin 1.0 alienated Republicans who don't support affirmative action that puts the under qualified at the front of the line. (And I give those Republicans credit for at least being consistent on the question of capability.)
And no matter her folksy ways, in those 60 or so days, Palin got stung by some controversies, nontroversies and gaffes. Same as any other politician and, for that matter, anybody who's in the eye of the media storm 1,439 minutes of each day. But when all that happens on your first date with America and is further exacerbated by the Liberal-Elite-Sexist-Gotcha-Not-Pro-America-Part-Of-America media that you mostly refuse to talk to, what chance do you really have?
Truthfully, seriously, can you imagine what it might have been like if -- starting at this year's Republican National Convention, much as with Obama in 2004 -- Palin had been given a slow and thoughtful rollout? You don't have to be a Palin supporter to acknowledge -- tested, vetted and brought up to speed -- she would have been positioned to truly lead her party, as opposed to merely appearing as the illegitimate love child of Dan Quayle and Geraldine Ferraro.
That is not to say Palin couldn't be rehabilitated within the next four years. Hey, if Nixon could make a comeback...
But McCain's missteps, the taint of failure following his loss, and questions that will surely linger about the woman herself give much ammunition to those in her own party who would potentially run against her.
Palin's major hurdle in the next cycle will be explaining her "pallin' around" with the AIP, a radical organization that seeks the breakup of the United States.
That is quite a lot, and I haven't even mentioned having to live down the catchphrase "I can see Russia from my house." However, overcoming all of that -- as Reagan overcame the vapid actor tag -- is only going to make the governor all the stronger. If so, Palin 2.0 will be a force to be reckoned with.
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So basically you're advocating style over substance?
On one point I fear that you are correct: Nixon's comeback proves all too well that there ARE second acts in politics.
Palin clearly wants the presidency, and in her shallow, uninformed mind she evidently feels qualified to reach for it. Over the next two or three years she will be groomed and glossed. She will be given a patina of foreign policy crediblity.
And the same disquietingly-large segment of the electorate who, in 2000 --with the help of five learned hands who should have known better-- put a personable everyman into the most powerful position in the world, will take a second look at Governor Palin (Senator Palin?) and go "hmmm..."
Sorry but I tend to disagree with this article.
I think even with an extra 4 yrs of grooming , people like Sarah , will only bring the GOP down!
Its this lunatic fringe or so called "core values" that is bringing a degenerate downfall to the Republican party. Get rid of these people and bring on the real republican values back, with smart progressive intelligentsia and you can rebuild the party again or it will surely start disappearing....
I dislike strongly this Sarah Palin and all she stands for. That said, I have developed an even more fervent dislike for John McCain for putting her and our country in harm's way in a desperate bid for votes.
That said, we'll see more of her, I'm sure. I have developed a grudging respect for her misguided and shallow, but huge political talents, and the Value Vote right-wing GOP will build on them. But at least next time we'll see her coming...
I live in a community where church-driven Value Vote '08 is huge, and believe me, the two issues of abortion and gay marriage are the ONLY things they're voting about. Check it out. It's the monster of America and will continue to rear its ugly head.
Where's Thomas Jefferson when we need him?!
OBAMA/BIDEN TOMORROW!!!
Count me in with the millions of Americans who think Palin will not be a legitimate candidate for national office after Tuesday. This was her big shot. She just is too far to the Right and too divisive and too anti-intellectual to ever be president or vice president.
Sarah Palin is NOT the woman we should be looking at as an example. Everything that has come out of her mouth has been offensive and lacks common sense. Because she is a woman and is a mom doesnt make her the best thing to come. I am a woman and would love to see a woman in the White House one day.. BUT NOT ANY WOMAN. Palin embarrrasses me with her prejudice comments, her ancient views and her fakeness about believing in women's rights. If she believed in our rights, she wouldnt try to interfere in our decision to have an abortion if we chose to, she wouldnt interfere in a child being raped and being forced to have a baby she shouldnt have to have if she didnt want it. Protecting our rights is looking for solutions to these problems, NOT close the door on us.
VOTE OBAMA/BIDEN!
I can only assume that you have to be kidding. This woman is far and away the least intelligent person I have ever seen running for any office and that includes my very small hometown selectmen and town clerk offices. She doesn't make gaffes - Joe Biden makes gaffes, this woman is a gaffe...
Gaffe: 1. A clumsy social error; a faux pas: "The excursion had in his eyes been a monstrous gaffe, a breach of sensibility and good taste" Mary McCarthy. 2. A blatant mistake or misjudgment.
Palin is street smart. Not much more. This doesn't bar a person from success but it doesn't mean they are best at what they do.She probably discovered her looks would get her what she wanted at a very early age and developed her manipulation skills as she got older.. If you want to see how smart she is check out her associations with Rev, Muthee, The Alaskan Independence Party ,or her views on Evolution, Dinosaurs or how about Fruit Flies? She's definitely has the skills to put together a political life. But who else managed or helped along the way?She'spretty packaging but it's really empty inside the box. Beyond the bullet point deliveries in all of its' varieties she doesn't really have much to say. Is it too much to expect a VP candidate to know what newspapers and other sources she reads and to articulate this in an interview. Katie should have gone a little easier and asked her what her favorite food is. Palin wasn't smart enough to realize she wasn't ready . She wasn't smart enough to realize some of us in the lower 48 would scrutinize her application for the job of VP. Perhaps an examination more exacting than the folks in Alaska. It isn't so much her lack of true smart but the narrow mindedness that is also so intrinsic to her world view. Her politics is guided by her religion and there is no room for anyone who isn't on her side.
"Palin is street smart"??? She might be Wasilla, Alaska street smart but she certainy is not American street smart. Heck I doubt if she know about all Americans? How much of American culture(all race's of America) lives in Wasilla? What I mean is how many cultures exist in her home town? Does she knows what makes up America as she appears to only want to represent a single segment of America and not all Ameicans as apparent by the crowds at her rallies.
Maybe the lady in Michigan who refused to give Halloween treats to kids of families supporting Barack Obama is the America Palin wants to serve.
Yup. I'd agree with that!
I'm wondering if McCain's choice of Governor Palin was his attempt to show off how some parts of the US really is. Perhaps he realized that his chances of winning aren't that great, and figured, hey, let's pick someone who reflects the ignorance of some parts of the country? Maybe people will realize how much of a joke one can be. Of course, I'm probably completely wrong about that. Nonetheless, Governor Palin has pretty much killed the conservative movement in the US. It had been a much slower death up until recently.
Do you think old line conservative philosophy will ever come back?
http://prospere-magazine.com/2008/10/31/oldlineconservative/
All you need to know about Palin and her supporters can be seen in this stunning video. WARNING: not for children or the faint hearted:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g1lTHoqPoaU
funny stuff - but a little too accurate!
Sarah Palin is the quintessential post turtle. That is, a farmer drivng by a line of fench notices a turtle resting atop a fench post. and says to himself, I know it didn't get up there by itself, it certainly doesn't belong up there, surely it doesn't know what to do up there and makes me question the judgement of the idiot who put it up there!!!
Laughing. So. Hard.
Can't. Breathe..
Palin wasn't chosen for her looks. She was a mayor, governor........and a wonderful Mom. She was a newcommer that has no baggage......Biden voted for the war, which suddenly didn't mean anything, only it meant something when Hillary was running, then you couldn't be for the war.....Palin had no affiliation to mobsters like Rezko. There is nothing wrong with Palin, only what Obama supporters want to make up.
Make up the AIP? Make up Rev. Muthee? Make up the $22M debt that she left Wasilla?
As a woman, she embarrasses me. Nothing like putting her in front of a nation with her $2500 Valentino blazer (which would buy me health insurance for 10 months BTW) and actually let her talk in run on sentences.
She insults my intelligence.
Apparently you haven't gotten the full story of her baggage. Do some research.
no baggage?
you mean no knowledge of the constitution, or world events. She was selected to get the base out with her radical ultra conservative views. She hangs out with AIP, scary people with radical views
No baggage? Hello-ooo. What do you call the bridge to nowhere? What do you call troopergate? What do you call her indeniable cronyism?
Troopergate:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alaska_Public_Safety_Commissioner_dismissal
Bridge to Nowhere:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gravina_Island_Bridge
Sarah's Cronyism:
http://www.thepoliticalhub.com/sublist/127.aspx (sites all sources)
http://themoderatevoice.com/at-tmv/newsweek-blogitics/23050/corruption-cronyism-and-the-politics-of-sarah-palin/
http://andrewsullivan.theatlantic.com/the_daily_dish/2008/10/a-disrespect-fo.html
"nothing wrong with Palin" She is a disgrace to women all over the world. She has failed her very basic duty which is to be a positive role model for girls and women. The hateful things that come out of her mouth makes me question your ability to determine what a wonderful mother is. You can't make this stuff up. Hate is hate no matter how you look at it.
It's at least 40 hours too early to call anything for Barack Obama. Just ask my family, who went to sleep Election Night 2004 expecting John Kerry to be our next President. I, on the other hand, stayed up late with the radio tuned to the Ohio returns and listened as the vote was carefully, systematically flipped. The real tragedy will be for our country, if the fearmongers, vote-cagers, and black-box hackers win again. Or for more personal tragedy, watch John McCain in the twilight of his career throwing his reputation away in a campaign so scurrilous even the corporate media cry shame.
As for Sarah Palin, I'm reminded of certain of the scores of job applicants I've interviewed over the years. Not those who are short on experience but long on promise. I love to talk with those candidates and often hire them; they are the future of my profession. No, a Palin speech interview recalls those more painful hours, where the people across the table, however glib and perfectly groomed, are clearly over their heads and bluffing.
Given how Republican politics has devolved, I won't be surprised if Palin heads her ticket in 2012. She may even be better informed by then. But I don't think four years of coaching will give her the intellectual depth or temperament we need in the Oval Office in these times. Not to mention that her right-wing policies will be as wrong in four years as they are today.
That being said, it's a little different than the election with John Kerry. I don't think there's been a republican candidate that has done so poorly. Not Nixon, not Bob Dole. Just in my humble opinion, I don't think this election can compare to Bush v. Kerry, '04. I don't think it can compare to an election in the last 100 years, at least.
I hope you're right... The lack of Obama signs in my CT neighborhood make me nervous!
Wait a minute: you're predicting the virtual demise of the R party in the foreseeable future, and you're saying that could have been avoided had Palin been rolled out in a more thoughtful manner. Huh?
I've heard of the great man theory of history, this is my first run in with the shrewd political woman theory.
The Democrats will win this election as much because of Obama as in spite of him. Were he a white man, this contest would have been over months ago. (Caveat, I am not saying ours is a racist country, I am saying there are enough people who are indeed racist or more to the point, xenophobic, that have made this any kind of contest). The tide of history is in favor of the Democrats, it's not one man or one woman who changes history, it's the whole fabric of society.
'As Reagan overcame the vapid actor tag"
I'm sorry? I wasn't aware Mr Reagan overcame that perception. Wasn't that precisely the case?
Sarah Palin's candidacy will leave a lasting legacy. There will be innumerable women newly heartened to run for office. There are probably 3 M women in this country who could talk a good game at a national level, and they will be jet fueled with their individual disgust over Ms. Palin's promotion by a cynical republican base when she was so lacking in intellectual vigor, fundamental political and historical knowledge, and legal competence.
The landscape of national campaigns is about to get permanently more colorful, more lovely, and more intesting.
Wondering what will be the impact for women in politics could be measured in many ways...
However, I sure would love to see, like you said...intellectual vigor, fundamental political / historical knowledge, and legal competence. In addition... overview at least for foreign policy, especially that affecting America and American. No one is perfect, but Palin was the desirable role model for women in politics. A friend of mine said... he feels sorry for his teenage daughter wanting to go into politics...
My simple response to him... Well, Sarah gave all of us women - "What NOT to do"... and take it positive. She is still young! Go for it!
I could not agree with you more.
Hope you're right! If that happens I'll give backhanded credit to Ms. Palin and the Republican political ops who recruited her. But the straighforward, honestly earned credit will go to Hillary Clinton and all the other talented, smart women who have been steeping forward on their own merits. The Democratic primary field was so incredibly impressive this time around--I can't wait to see who we may be choosing from in 2012.
I do believe you're right. But don't think Palin's neocon and conservative political insider handlers aren't going to try to bring her back . She's too perfect, in the Reagan/GW mold. They love intellectual light-weights who can present an attractive, folksy front for their power grab.
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