Why Americans Still Need to Know the Truth about Sarah Palin

I'm disappointed thus far in the first part of Matt Lauer's Today Show interview with Sarah Palin this morning. It was all fluff. Not a single question of substance was asked. No word about her failure to have sat down for a significant interview since the disastrous rush job with Katie Couric. No word about her blithe claim to have accepted McCain's invitation to join the ticket "without blinking"--and apparently without thinking twice. No request for a thoughtful reassessment of her qualifications for that office. What struck me most about the interview was Palin's tendency to respond to Lauer's questions without the slightest pause for reflection to digest the meaning and the implications of what he asked. She shot straight from the hip.

Now, I have no wish to be flogging the proverbial dead horse, but I am also distressed and angered by the way we are hearing things about Sarah Palin that we should have known before--in scraps of rumor and innuendo, and tidbits of information from "sources who wish to remain anonymous."

There are three good reasons why we still need to know the truth about this woman who could so easily have become our President, and only one of them is her apparent wish to remain a presence in our national political arena. We need to know also because we'll unable to get past this wretched episode until we know the actual facts rather than the rumors; and we need to know because the time has finally come, has it not, for us to arrive at some clarity about ourselves--who we really are, and what it is about us that allows us to be content with lies, deceptions, cover-ups and the transparently false claims of shameless sales pitches.

The questions about Sarah Palin are both serious and abundant. Why have we never learned the truth about the method of her selection, as one who might well inherit the mantle of the President? Why was she never exposed to a serious, sustained interview or press conference? Is she really as dangerously ignorant of national and world affairs as those tidbits of information would suggest? About the office for which she was chosen? About the Constitution of the country she presumed herself qualified to serve? Why were her medical records kept secret? What did a young and healthy woman have to hide? Is there truth to the rumors about a past abortion? About the parenthood of her Down syndrome child? Has she lied to the electorate about those very issues the she trumpeted so wildly?

There are those who say we should allow the whole McCain/Palin candidacy to slip into a forgettable past. If we do, we are like those abused wives who prefer to remain in denial of their husband's exploitation in order to maintain the peace. We are addicts of denial. As that hoary chestnut has it, those who fail to understand their history are condemned to repeat it. Because the Palin episode is not just about Palin. For too many years now, we Americans have swallowed lie after lie from those we elect to high office. We have allowed ourselves to be fooled and manipulated by those in power, we have failed notably to demand the truth because we are too lazy or too fearful to be able to handle it. The Bush administration was but the latest, albeit the worst example of this abject abdication of responsibility. What an irony, that the current occupant of the White House should appear between its noble columns the other day to announce to the press that the election of Obama was a tribute to the democracy he has loudly touted to the rest of the world, while making a mockery of it here at home. I have written before that democracy depends on the education of those who vote. It also depends on transparency and truth, without which we lack the knowledge on which to base our vote.

But the problem goes deeper and is more systemic even than our electoral choices. To really understand who we are, as a people, we should examine the ways in which we allow ourselves to be manipulated and lied to in every aspect of our lives--by supposed spiritual leaders as well as by those who wish to sell us their shoddy, often unneeded goods and products. Here in California, to take but one example, what does it say about us as a people that we allow a handful of religious extremists and the money they control to pervert our human compassion for each other and our sense of fairness. So much for the Golden Rule, when we do unto others what we would certainly not wish to have done to us.

From the Buddhist view, then, we should perhaps treat Sarah Palin as a gift--one whose potential is to teach us more about ourselves than we might wish to know. We should demand to know the truth, not to invade her privacy or subject her to further torture, but because without it we are suborning our own desperate need for some real honesty about who we are, and the changes we might need to make in our lives if we are ever to return to the path laid out by those wise people who devised this country's constitution, and the implicit promise that we do, yes, still hold out to the world. This, as I see it, is the "change" of which Obama spoke so eloquently and so often. It's not the superficial ones that are important--how to better my own little life and improve my standard of living. It's the great inner change of a renewed hunger for, and dedication to the truth. I deeply hope that this was what I heard him talk about.

Comments

[SEAL76]

Why do we need to know more about Sarah Palin? What you see is what you get. We knew everything and nothing about Obama and yet the more than half of Americans voted for him. Go figure.

[necer65]

I just don't understand the fascination that people have for Sarah Palin. She is an unknown Governor of the state of Alaska. She has done nothing of any importance...except get picked by McCain as his running mate. While campaign she made herself look stupid, unprepared and unqualified. She has no business being in politics that will effect our entire country. Now, it is time for her to go away.

[maryyooch]

"Has she lied to the electorate about those very issues the she trumpeted so wildly?"

YES.

[DCinFrance]

I have the impression that some believe that we need to know so that we might examine ourselves as an electorate, with the implicit assumption that Sarah Palin is going to go away. While I believe the introspection suggested is healthy under any circumstances, we need to know because she is not going away; she is not going to slip into the forgettable past. She is a clear and present danger.

Many say, "bring it on", believing she will be easy to defeat. Be careful what you wish for. Sarah Palin was not the reason John McCain was defeated. In fact, she probably contributed to it not being as great a landslide as it otherwise would have been. John McCain was bearing heavy baggage...the Republican brand, years (upon years) in Washington with a catastrophic, serendipitously (if not providentially) timed economic collapse.

In three years time, Barack Obama will own this new baggage. Even now, the media is still not doing its job, and soft balling interviews.

The introspection is necessary, but that is wishful thinking. The electorate is generally selfish, votes with its wallet, and could care less about intellect and wisdom. How I wish I were wrong, but you know it and I know it. The chance that she could be elected President, whatever that is, is far too great for my comfort, and she needs to be exposed not for some metaphysical or Buddhist ideal, but simply because she is dangerous.

[KindMisica]

I personally don't need to know the truth about Sarah Palin. I don't need to know anything about her anymore. I just want her gone.

[JJB2226]

Amen! But why stop at Palin? This door swings both ways. Will we ever learn if President Obama believes what he was taught in church over the last 20 years? What exactly is a community organizer? What measurable change/success did he have in this role? Why was Biden, an entrenched member of the very system Obama promises to change selected? How did that process work?

Ours is a country that needs to take a serious look at our priorities and beliefs. We face problems that were created on both sides of the aisle, by a governmment too eager to put boundaries on our freedoms, too eager to treat the people like lab rats (or lemmings) in a great social experiment.

We should all wake up and ask these questions of all our leaders - the ones we like and the ones we don't like.

God bless Obama. His is a tremendous burden, however, it is a burden that we also share, hence, God bless America.

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"The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people."

[darlene91406]

I believe that the title "community organizer" has been defined many times throughout this past election. I don't understand how it came to be this unknown, unsure term. If you would just taken the time to listen to Obama explain what he did there in the Southside of Chicago, you would understand.

President-Elect Obama was not "taught" what was looped of Jeremiah Wright's rantings in those sermons. As many have stated, there have been plenty of times you have disagreed with something your pastor has said, but didn't quit the church. Twenty years of history is a long time to break off and I believe Obama when he says that he was not at the church for those sermons, so didn't hear them until they were played in loop during the campaign. Surely, you don't believe that every sermon Jeremiah Wright gave in 20 years sounded like that every Sunday.

Biden: Even though you are proposing change, you can't have EVERYONE in your administration a newbie. Biden was picked to shore up Obama's weakness, which was Foreign Relations. He chose someone with extensive experience so that he could have a solid sounding board in this area, and to help make America at ease (think what you will about Biden, but he knows FR).

[castleberry]

Gosh. There's so much more to ask her than just the crap that happened on the campaign trail. Don't forget the secessionist party, her firing librarians, her outright lie about the Troopergate issue, her redistribution of the nation's wealth by handing out the bridge to nowhere dough to her constituents, maybe a dozen other things. She is so incredibly unqualified for the national stage that it says something really embarrassing about our political process we should ruminate over in the years to come.
As for Palin herself, she's like a moth to the flame since election day. I've never seen a loser demand so much attention and keep the campaign (which Americans decided already) going for weeks. Expect her to burn herself out.

[leeman79]

Watch or Rewatch "A Face in the Crowd". It clearly illustrates why we need to know everything we possibly can about the Sarah Palins.

[clm1962]

I have considered Sarah Palin for quite a while now. When she was picked and hit the ground running and attacking I became a little nervous that she would be the tide turner for McCain. I listened to her GOP convention speech,interviews, stump speeches, and off the cuff remarks.

I have come to the following conclusion - She has absolutely nothing of consequence to say. After listening to many politicians over the years there are few, Democrat, Republican, or other, that you can say this about. Most of them will say something that will make you think even if you disagree. Something substancial will come out. Please tell me, with the exception of her 2 policy speeches that were written for her, anything, anything, that you have heard that made you stop and say - "Wow, that woman is on to something there!!!"

This woman speaks in platitudes. Why she resonates with anyone is beyond me. She is out of her depth in running for national office and, I believe, in governing Alaska. The former would be an epic disaster.

She is really no more than the woman next door but this woman next door has no interest in knowledge.

In reality she should have gone home and became learned on important matters. 6 months from now she could have come back and proven the world wrong. Instead, her ego will complete the job that the McCain campaign started. Namely the destruction of Sarah Palin as anything more than she

[maryyooch]

Six years, nevermind six months, of constant education and hard study, would not make her ready. She simply lacks anykind of intrest in the issues. She is out there, for the world to see, just to boost up her very large ego. She thinks that she is a know-it-all, and if you happen to disagree with her, well then you'll probably rot in her narrowly defined hell.

[dorothyinchina]

Add to this list: under-educated. She attended 4 or 5 Community colleges, which may have been why her education was so woefully inadequate.

[Mercy8 om]

The GOP are not the only ones repsonsible for the way we all accept BS from our journalists. Both righties and lefties are not looking for the truth on the left and so we are not finding it. Too many of us on both sides want our ideas to be right without examining those ideas relentlessly and courageously. When those of us on either side are willing to demand a deeper examination of our own ideas then wwe will all benefit and change.

I often wonder how righties accept so much nonsense from their spokespeople and the same goes for how we accept as much as we do from ours. When we are willing to face our own laziness and demand for and addiction to junk food journalism both sides of the continuum will be better off.

[JohnGrrr]

Beautifully stated Peter.

[Shanonovic]

Beautifully and articulately stated. We must be cautious regarding those whom we elect to make crucial decisions that shape our lives as Americans. For us to choose a person who lacks intellectual curiosity, who demonstrates a remarkable confidence in her cowardly convictions, who lives a life of constant hypocrisy --- we are the fools to allow such a person to lead us, to choose for us. The onus is upon us as citizens. And as fortunate Americans blessed with the right to vote, we are honor bound to select leaders who possess intelligence, courage, honesty, restraint, good judgement, an ability to listen, empathy, compassion and an agile mind. Sarah Palin is clearly not that person.

[PPatt]

That was incredible. It is what I've been saying and blogging about for a long time. It resonated.

The politics of us vs. them has worked on so many that we now have a broken nation and because of those following this hateful lie of today's conservative ideology we are going down, those who saw and feared it coming right along with those who called it progress until now.

Thanks, you've gained one grateful reader today Peter.

[slc1950]

"For too many years now, we Americans have swallowed lie after lie from those we elect to high office. We have allowed ourselves to be fooled and manipulated by those in power, we have failed notably to demand the truth because we are too lazy or too fearful to be able to handle it."


This is the money quote from this article.

The problem is that allowing oneself to be fooled and manipulated only becomes apparent in hindsight IF one is very self aware/insightful or willing, very willing, to listen to someone else who observes this about us and tells us.

Therein lies the problem: most do not realize they're being fooled and/or manipulated, will deny it if you tell them and possibly/probably be angry at your analysis.

As a classic narcissist she is therefore an expert at manipulating and fooling others. A lot of others. Think snake charmer.