Sarah Palin as the American Thatcher?

In the waning hours of the campaign, otherwise known as the end days of Republican rule, acolytes of Sarah Palin are preparing the way for her triumphal return after the dust of defeat has settled.

She is the future of a re-born party and the flag bearer for a new populist Conservatism --so they say - an American Thatcher.

One wonders if these promoters know anything at all about Margaret Thatcher or indeed about the long and honorable Conservative tradition. Margaret Thatcher was reserved, collected, calm and serious. She was the embodiment of gravitas, inner strength and a deeply informed conviction. Yes, she was from the common man. But like most thinking commoners, she appreciated a sharp mind, thriving in the presence of men and women of high wattage intellectual power. She was well read and formally educated at Somerville College, Oxford. Its what contributed to the thoughtful, considered way in which she comported herself, argued her positions in the presence of hostile politicians and made her decisions. She may have been an Iron Lady, but she was no Tin Thinker.

Anyone who doubts this description wasn't watching her at the time. Maybe some of those who seek to make the ludicrous comparison with Sarah Palin just weren't old enough to live through the Thatcher era. In case you missed it, read John O'Sullivan's The President, the Pope and the Prime Minister, among other excellent accounts of Britain's formidable leader.

In normal circumstances Sarah Palin or anyone like her would never be placed in a position to invite comparison with Margaret Thatcher. But that changed when the governor of Alaska was plucked from obscurity and thrust to the center of the world stage in the self-serving, desperate act of a war hero who lost his own center of gravity.

Long after John McCain's candidacy fades into a historical foot-note, his lingering gift to America will have been Sarah Palin.

Thanks to John McCain there will be a Sarah Palin wing of the Republican Party for years to come. This shrill, pandering, small-minded, anti-intellectual lite-weight will be pontificating on all manner of issues, pretending to represent rural America, or Christian America, or Joe six-pack America or Joe the Plumber America. As Barack Obama recognizes in the American people a deep yearning to get beyond divisive labels and the politics of disunity, Sarah Palin can only talk in terms of slicing, dicing and dividing Americans into ever smaller sub-groups and simple-minded abstractions: soccer moms, pit-bulls with lip-stick, real Americans, patriotic parts of the country, good guys and bad guys.

Even a casual observer would notice that if Sarah Palin were a man she would never have been selected by John McCain. The same human being in the opposite sexual package, with the same inexperience, lack of curiosity, intellectual dimness, pettiness, inarticulateness, inability to form and express cogent thoughts and ignorance of history and the modern world would not have made the long list, let alone the short one. What is truly remarkable about Sarah Palin is the juxtaposition of her outsized ambition and high self regard with the small person who is really there. Its not to be fixed by a shopping spree at Neiman-Marcus or Saks. Did ever a politician more personify the fable of The Emperor's New Clothes?

It isn't good enough just to spout the expected slogans or to take the "correct" positions. With all due respect, taxi drivers do that every day. (Or should we call him Charley-the-Cabbie?) Whether their politics arise from traditions of the Scottish Enlightenment on the Right or from the French philosophes on the Left, we should expect our potential leaders to have learning, discerning minds and personal qualifications of distinction.

A sad part of this spectacle has been to watch the effusive, unwarranted praise from so many people who should know better. Are thoughtful Conservatives so desperate that they will suspend disbelief to this extent just for temporary political advantage? And did they figure on just how brief that temporary advantage would be? What was it, two, three weeks? To persist any longer in this blind celebration of Sarah Palin is to make a mockery of Conservatism and to provide its distracters with an easily ridiculed caricature.

The Palin phenomenon seems to have mesmerized a hard core in the Republican Party, transforming a mere mortal into an article of faith. But upon closer scrutiny what is plain to see is nothing more than an eccentric variation of the cult of celebrity, unhinged from tradition and the accumulated wisdom of generations. It is precisely to guard against this kind of demagoguery that we need learning and books and teachers - that we need to study history, politics and literature. The abandonment of rigorous intellectual discernment, true merit and earned accomplishment is the antithesis of Conservatism.

In the memory of Richard Hooker, Edmund Burke, Russell Kirk, William F. Buckley, Barry Goldwater, Ronald Reagan and yes, in honor of Margaret Thatcher, can we end this nonsensical talk of Sarah Palin as the future of Conservatism in America? Please.

Comments

[rachel2012]

Palin is popular because a lot of "hard-workin' white american" folks see in her somebody they consider as their champion, somebody they may not be intimdiated by because she is not academically "overachieved" (she obviously knows how to be intimidating in other bully-like ways), and therein lies the double edged irony of the tenets of democracy. Most americans do not like academically superior fellow americans for some reason. This will persist and in less stressful times Palin may indeed get a lot of support.

[autish]

I beg to differ. On style, there are actually a large number of similarities between Thatcher and Palin. Sarah Palin has the same ability to switch on and swicth off her feminine side. They are both gutsy, strong willed, willing to sling mud with a smile and very sure of themselves. They come across as disarmingly charming people who are hard as nails. Most importantly, both are highly polarizing. Margaret Thatcher was loathed and detested by the opposition, just as much as she was the darling of conservatives.

True, Thatcher was more educated. However, that was England. Palin has shown an extraordinary amount of political acumen that may prove more important in the US than book learning in her quest for glory (recall Gore / Adlai Stevenson?).

The problem for Palin is that Conservatism, overall, is suffering from a lack of ideas. She doesn't have the acument to develop new ideas, just as Thatcher wasn't the one who formulated Conservatism. However, should the conservatives restore lustre to their philosophies through the development of new ideas, Palin would make an almost Thatcher like champion for the ideas, much to the chagrin of everyone.

[cam]

Really well articulated description of Palin's shortcomings.

" if Sarah Palin were a man she would never have been selected by John McCain. The same human being in the opposite sexual package, with the same inexperience, lack of curiosity, intellectual dimness, pettiness, inarticulateness, inability to form and express cogent thoughts and ignorance of history and the modern world would not have made the long list, let alone the short one. What is truly remarkable about Sarah Palin is the juxtaposition of her outsized ambition and high self regard with the small person who is really there. Its not to be fixed by a shopping spree at Neiman-Marcus or Saks. Did ever a politician more personify the fable of The Emperor's New Clothes?"

[BlueZoo]

What a complete insult to Margaret Thatcher! Palin doesn't come anywhere near Thatcher's ingrained political savvy, to say nothing of her education. Please. Let's not hear one more thing about the inane and vapid Palin. Even Republicans have more sense than to grant this woman any more publicity than they already have! Obama-Biden '08

[feyangel]

God save us all if Palin ever gets into power.

[Noworries2008]

Class is the real "C-word" in America


Sarah has it and hopefully the winners and losers of this country will have it.

[Ronald Maxwell - Huffpost Blogger]

Your post invites an opportunity to make a few complimentary remarks. Of course Ms. Palin has her qualities. In the past two months we have seen an indefatigable campaigner, a bright even cheerful countenance and someone who has borne with seeming equanimity an avalanche of harsh criticism and ridicule - some of it quite unfair. I hesitated adding to the chorus of detractors but felt obliged to say something in the face of Laura Ingram's strident calls for Palin's 2012 candidacy and the pre-election apologetics already being served out by Fred Barnes, Bill Kristol and other Palin devotees. Palin's own comment that this election "wouldn't be for naught" added to the urgency of speaking out. I won't repeat my arguements. I'm sure you'll agree that once was enough. The country is filled with wonderful moms and dads with terrific children. Perhaps parenting is our primary responsibility. Sarah Palin clearly fits that bill. So, we don't need to dehumanize her or diminish her evident appealing qualities.
We do need to see her clearly, just as we would with any other politician, and try to look beyond her winning personality, star quality sex-appeal and yes, as you say - her class.

[PeterGSW]

As long as we are talking about Palin as the Republican future, we will maintain our two-party system here in America, Long live the Dems and the Greens!

[missjabez]

I can't stand what the Republican party stands for these days, but still I find myself asking: Don't the Republicans deserve someone better than Sarah Palin? Her pettiness and stubborn stupidity brings out the worst in them. Can't the Republicans at least come up with someone like Ronald Reagan? No matter how misguided he was, at least he wasn't MEAN.

[micklesh]

"There you go again?"

[boing007]

Palin described her son Trig in religious terms, saying that her family had been "chosen," and that his life would serve a "greater good." The interview was broadcast Wednesday on Dobson"s radio show, which reaches an estimated 1.5 million Americans daily. A partial transcript of Palin"s comments:

[Takae]

Many, many parents tend to try rationalizing the reasons why their children have disabilities. Religion is one of most common justifications. It's human. There's nothing wrong with it, frankly, because it's far better than having parents wrecked with self-doubt, guilt and self-blame, which is unfortunately all too common.

[boogiepop]

So God makes children handicapped to serve the "greater good"? What kind of sick entity do they imagine God to be? I suppose he allows young children to be molested to serve some greater cause as well? When a small child is being sexually molested, many times the only being who is aware that it is happening, and supposedly has the power to stop it is God. And yet He and his Angels do nothing. I know, I know-we can't fathom His wisdom, right? I know that this has little to do with the contrasting of Thatcher and Palin, but I'm just reacting to the above comment.

[boing007]

Forget all this and concentrate on her ties to Joel's Army, the Pentecostals, Pastor Muthee and Mary Glazier.

[normathumb]

I will always remember Garrison Keillor's observation, "She hasn't the guile to conceal her vacuity." That about nails it and applies to her partisans, too.

[normathumb]

You run down a laundry list of qualities and say no man with such attributes would be considered for the presidency. I offer Bush. We have just endured such a president, almost elected twice. ..."inexperiance, lack of curiosity, intellectual dimness, pettiness, inarticulateness, inability to form and express cogent thoughts and ignorence of history and the modern world"... That description fits Bush to a T and it is why some people love him and her.
You can't fix stupid, especially the willful kind.

[bdaved]

How about Sarah Palin as the American Pauline Hanson?

[remnant0888]

I knew from the beginning that the Christian conservatives were going to latch on to Palin .

I also told all my friends that christians would call her by biblical names. And they have done that by calling her God's Deborah and Queen Esther ...in many sendouts from various ministries.
I'm a Christian and I am embarassed by the crowning of her as their queen ....
I am embarassed that the church is using Jesus as their battering ram to try and guilt the electorite into voting republican ...
It is sad, so very sad ...

I also agree if she were 50 lbs heavier (my friends say it would only take 20lbs.) no one would be fawning over her commenting on her "inner beauty" ...
This election is the meanest and angriest I have seen in my 61 years of life (well, the first election I remember is 1956)

[Oregon Ivy]

She will be a thorn in Barack's side during his entire administration.

Fox will put her on night and day, as will talk radio and she will do her best to divide, divide, divide the country.

[boogiepop]

With all due respect, I think there's a good chance she will fade away, and quickly. When McCain loses, her stock is going to go down real fast. The republicans are still thinking they can pull this one off, so they are still standing beside her. Once McCain loses, I think the finger pointing will begin.
I mentioned this on another thread, but a friend (Obama Supporter) of mine has a Mom, Dad, and Grandmother who have never voted for a Democrat-ever, and this year they all will be voting for Obama. When my happily surprised friend asked her family why they were switching parties their answer was- McCain's choice of Sarah Palin for VP.
For every conserative that thinks Sarah Palin is the second coming, there are most likely at least 4 conservitives that are turned off by her. However, if the republicans want to stake the future of their party on Mrs. Palin, I look forward to them losing more and more elections.