It's Time To Stop, Look, and Listen to What Sarah Palin is Saying

We always knew that people paid more attention to what women politicians looked like than to what they said. Hairstyles, shoes, skirts, or pants, and now glasses or contacts—that's all the talk about Governor Sarah Palin. She's become an overnight rock star—unlike any female politician we have known.

The problem with these distractions is that we're not listening to what she is saying—and her beliefs make all the difference. She is to the right of George Bush and to the right of John McCain on just about every issue that we know about—and there is a lot we don't yet know. Palin's stance on reproductive choice, drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, and censoring books in the Wasilla town library are just a few of the issues that have surfaced. Yet, we have no idea of what she thinks about health care, the failing economy, or the world beyond Alaska.

As a Republican conservative woman she has accomplished what no liberal Democratic woman could. She was able to bring her four-month-old baby up on stage with her while at the same time showcasing her pregnant teenage daughter and tag-along boyfriend. I remember the days when women candidates debated whether or not to include family photos in their campaign brochures. We weren't supposed to let the voters know we had children because the question would inevitably be asked, "Who's taking care of your children?"

How does Palin get away with it? She has managed to combine two personalities: the beauty queen mom and the hockey "pitbull" mom; tough and soft at the same time.

Combining feminine and masculine characteristics has been a challenge for women leaders, sometimes called "the double bind" or "damned if you do, and doomed if you don't" dilemma as I describe in my book, Pearls, Politics, and Power. (Incidentally, Palin wore pearls in her announcement speech.) Remember when Hillary Clinton was considered tough enough to be commander in chief but not feminine enough to be likeable?

Palin has come up with a different formula. Conservative women who never approved of Clinton's ambition, swoon over Palin and assume she can be both a good mother (because she continued her pregnancy knowing she would give birth to a baby with Downs syndrome) and a strong leader. The conservative badge covers up any hint of feminism which is still threatening to many voters.

What voters have to do in the final months of the campaign is stop gawking at this new female phenomenon and listen to what she is saying. And we have to keep in mind the most important question of all: is this woman fit to be Vice President, and possibly, President? Remember what you were taught before you crossed the street? "Stop, look, and LISTEN!"

Madeleine M. Kunin is the former Governor of Vermont and was the state's first woman governor. She served as Ambassador to Switzerland for President Clinton, and was on the three-person panel that chose Al Gore to be Clinton's VP. She is the author of Pearls, Politics, and Power: How Women Can Win and Lead from Chelsea Green Publishing.

Comments

[gintheb]

Sarah Palin is a Karl Rove creation thus far. Had not been threatened, john McCain would not have considered her seriously. Rove concocted a way to bring in, an unknown person, spin all of her negatives into positives, write a speech for her that took advantage of her attractiveness and camera prescence (part natural and part developed druing her years as the sports anchor on TV) and hoodwink the republican base and a lot of the rest of the country. Now that she's accomplished that mission, they plan to wisk her away, and cocoon her from the real questions that any political candidate is required to answer. If the MSM would grow a set and start reporting on the real questions of her background, perhaps we can determine who the real Sarah Palin is.

[zedthewizard]

the reason that palin has been able to do pull this off is due primarily to a fundamental difference between reps and dems. reps can more easily rationalize. so, the fact that they have put women down on many of the things they now praise about palin doesn't affect them. dems would have a harder time rationalizing their own behavior. it would cause them mental anguish.

remember, competition is a zero sum game for the reps.

as far as listening, i agree. but let's assume that many or possibly most people will not listen beyond the surface. the obama campaign must start with this premise or they are likely to lose. of course, a worsening economy might help. i wonder what affect the government's take over of the mortgage ngos will affect things. the republican base is already on fire, so it can't bring many more out.

[PristineLady]

If you're as frustrated as I am with Sarah Palin's religious fanaticism and "Family-Values-Fascism" I'd recommend a great film I saw on the internet recently called COMING SOON. It's streaming for free at http://www.comingsoon.cz and it certainly help you let out a bit of steam :-))))

[Herrington]

I love women. I like them more than most men. It goes well beyond the genetic program of fascination with their shape, for which I am not sorry that I have in genetic abundance. Well beyond, for the subtleties of a woman's attitudes and thinking are as fascinating and infinitely more varied than their bust lines. I love women.

I do not love Palin. My instant impression of her is that she is neither man nor woman, not a hockey mom, or even a pitbull with lipstick, nothing so attractive. She is a robot invented and programmed by the most extreme right wing nutbags on the planet. She has no sense of the consequences of the things she says other than the adulation of a crowd predisposed to like what she says. She is a trained dog, sits, rolls over and speaks at the command of a dog whistle of which she has no concept. I pity her. And, I pity us all if she becomes commander in chief.

[Valley Forge]

slight addition / correction...


...Undoubtedly, this simple woman's actions based on her life long belief that "Bad things happen when good people are silent" will serve as inspiration to those she refers to who would step into the light of day and verify her claims, were it not for fear of reprisals from this vengeful, vindictive person who has knifed the back of anyone who's ever turned theirs to her.

[Valley Forge]

wow, I just read the Anne Kilkenny letter. I heard Anne interviewed on NPR this evening driving home from work so I know she's a real person who admits to having written the letter, (NPR didn't go into the content of the letter other than to say it was critical of Palin), and attests to the validity of the claims she makes in it.

Yeah Repugs, if I were you I wouldn't let her anywhere near the press either!

Sorry 'bout your luck old white guys, but by the time Meet the Press aires this Sunday morning, the Nation will be DEMANDING she address these accusations.

And I'll bet my last ANWR Oil Rig along with my last Polar Bear that this Kilkenny letter is the tip of the ice berg that's going to send your Titanic straight to the bottom of the Arctic Ocean!

Undoubtedly, this simple woman's actions based on her life long belief that "Bad things happen when good people are silent" will serve as inspiration to those she refers to who would step into the light of day and verify her claims.

Brave, BRAVE LADY! I expect the Uber-Right's first reaction will be to claim that Anne's either 1). an Alcoholic Pain Med Adict, 2). a plant by the Liberal Mud slinging Media or 3). Some bitter rival from Pailin's past who's envious of Sarah's good looks and deadly marksmanship!

[dcboomer]

Clearly Governor Palin is not a good Vice President Candidate or any other public servant candidate. It has nothing to do with her being a woman, or a mom with a family but everything to do with her poor judgment, arrogance, her ability tand willingness to deliver lies to our people, extremist core values and value system, lack of experience and a troubling work history, ethics, and track record.

Sarah Palin is exactly what America does not need: Another ill-equipped, unqualified, arrogant public servant who wants to negate everything American women have fought for all these years.

Most chilling are her extremist views. In her recent church video, she was preaching and appears to think that she has divine guidance and divine right. See: http://tinyurl.com/5rrktz

We just had 8 failed years of divine guidance and divine right. ENOUGH!

To me, by defining herself as Pentecostal, Sarah Palin has defined herself as a religious extremist. In my view, Pentecostals are to Christianity what Islamists are to Islam.

She is dangerous for our country and the world. Regardless of political persuasion, I prefer not to see extremists in positions of power.

Wake up America!

[Alaskana]

Palin is the new George Bush!

Among the emerging similarities is the Troopergate scandal. Palin is accused of abusing her power, attempting a cover-up, and stonewalling the investigation. She said she would cooperate with the inquiry, but all that changed when the investigation produced evidence of her guilt. Now she is spending $95,000 of state money on a private attorney who is trying to use lawyer tricks to shut down the investigation.

As Mayor she tried to fire her town librarian for refusing to censor books.

She would deny a "morning after" pill to a 12 year-old who has been gang raped -- forcing the child into a cruel pregnancy rather than allowing the egg to pass harmlessly from her body. She would require a 100% certainty of death before allowing a woman to terminate a pregnancy to save her own life -- an 85% chance of death to the mother is not good enough for Palin.

She is on video telling her church that God wants us to go to war in Iraq, and God wants Alaska to have a gas line -- sound familiar?

The examples are beyond the space limitations of this blog.

Let's not let Sarah Palin run in 2008 as an affable unknown and a sensible moderate. We let Bush get away with that ruse in 2000.

Palin is made from the same cloth as George Bush, Alberto Gonzales, Harriet Meyer, and the "Scalito" justices that McCain has vowed to put on the bench.

[rcwblessed]

Thanks, but no thanks!

Obama/Biden '08

[speranza]

Sorry guys, we Europeans really think you are on average totally naive people who fall for pathetic soap opera like stories. This woman calls herself Pitbull and that's what she really is! A neocon who will bring you and your country not one inch out of the mess.On the contrary, her simple beliefs and fundamental christian bigottery attitudes are just plain (or palin) dangerous! McCain sees himself as a war president even before he is elected! He call's himself Commander in Chief! A guy who makes stupid cynical remarks like bomb, bomb,. bomb, bomb Iran ... and I would stay in Irak for 100 years if necessary ... his pittbull assistant sings the same kind of war rythm: How can Obama suggest to pull out of Irak if the war is not won! ...??? That show's you the kind of attitude of these warmonger folks. And all these USA, USA scanting at the convention suggests you that the whole GOP bunch is crying for a war president who is going to kick everybodys ass!

Is there still hope or are you destined to go down the drain??!!

[chagedorn]

Whether she defines herself that way or not for political convenience, Sarah Palin IS a feminist, (or at the very least has "feminist characteristics") and has certainly benefitted from all the honest feminists who have come before her, as have all the Republican women who are constantly seeking to pull up the ladder behind them as far as any advantages go for the rest of the world while claiming that they're just like everyone else....who appears to be more smitten by the "celebrity" lifestyle, for example, the Obamas or the McCains?

[CitizenE]

No, the real issue isn't what she says; the woman has bold faced lied to the American public already, but rather examine the ruthlessness of her political behavior, the hypocrises, the abuses of power. Listen if you will, but fact check everything.

And no matter how much she shoves the seemly elements of her personal life on the public with her displays or by leaving them open to inevitable tabloidization, except where that enters in the political discourse as in she can believe the moon is made of green cheese if she likes, but don't send Green Cheese into the science classrooms, leave her private life, private.

[BADEN]

If Rush Limbaugh adores her, every sane woman's WARNING WARNING signs should be blinking.

"SHE'S HOT!"

Ladies?