Posted on 07/10/2009 12:37:29 PM PDT by dr_who
Sarah Palin's announcement of her resignation as governor of Alaska may be the end of her political career or, as some speculate, the real beginning. What seems clear is that Palin is not conservatism's new hope but its dead end. In recent days, this has been amply confirmed by the arguments of Palin defenders, focused less on her presumed merits than on her presumed injuries at her enemies' hands.
Thus, Ross Douthat, the new conservative voice at the New York Times, hails Palin as Everywoman—living proof you can aspire to the White House without an Ivy League degree—and deplores her abuse by the political and media elites based on her "gender and social class." The message to other non-elite women with political ambitions, Douthat sums up, is: "Your children will go through the tabloid wringer. Your religion will be mocked and misrepresented. Your political record will be distorted, to better parody your family and your faith."
Yet Douthat admits that Palin's "missteps, scandals, dreadful interviews and self-pitying monologues" tarnished her role as a spunky common woman challenging the elites. But in that case, how much of the harsh treatment was due to prejudice and how much to Palin's own failings?
Yes, Palin has been the target of extremely vicious attacks (though the notion that no other politician has endured comparable nastiness would amuse Bill and Hillary Clinton). Her left-wing feminist foes have been especially rabid, mocking her in startlingly misogynistic language—"Republican blow-up doll" was one of the milder epithets—and denouncing "her pretense that she is a woman." The bizarre theory that Palin's youngest child, Trig, is really her grandson is still afloat in the gutters of the Internet.
And yes, this hostility has an element of snobbery. Former New Republic editor in chief Andrew Sullivan, currently a blogger with a bad case of Palin Derangement Syndrome, recently posted a catalogue of Palin's sins that included "white trash concupiscence."
Yet, such revolting extremes aside, some of the unpleasantness has been self-inflicted. Palin agreed to be John McCain's running mate knowing her teenage daughter was pregnant and single. (Of course, if Chelsea Clinton had been the expecting unwed mom, not one unkind word would have crossed the lips of Rush Limbaugh or Ann Coulter.) Nor was she particularly eager to shield Bristol Palin from the spotlight.
And then there's the matter of Palin's fitness for the second-highest office in the land. I say this as someone who initially hoped she would be an inspiring standard-bearer for conservative/libertarian feminism, a model of a woman who had it all and was a winner, not a victim.
It's not just the "liberal elites" that found Palin clueless; so did many in her own camp. Indeed, Douthat concedes she has to "bone up on the issues" if she is to have a political future. Those who believe Palin held her own debating Joe Biden forget that the McCain camp had requested a less-challenging format for that debate, with follow-up questions limited.
Palin critics on the right—George Will, Peggy Noonan, David Frum—have been slammed by the Palinistas as "haters," elitists threatened by a political star without proper intellectual credentials. Yet these same conservatives have been devout admirers of Ronald Reagan, hardly a product of the Ivy League.
Some of Palin's followers see her as the second coming of Reagan. But Reagan, despised as a "dunce" by his liberal detractors, had extensively read, written, and talked about the key issues of his day. While not an intellectual, he was a man of ideas. Palin is not known to harbor those. Her appeal is described in terms of "speaking from the heart" and exemplifying the virtues of faith and family—which is ironic, given the usual conservative derision of emotion-based liberal politics. Shortly after Palin's nomination, former George W. Bush speechwriter Michael Gerson suggested that her choice to bear a child with Down's Syndrome rather than have an abortion was an adequate substitute for a political philosophy.
If Palin does have a philosophy, it is the flip side of the class-and-culture warfare of which she has been a target. In fact, it was Palin who fired many of the volleys in this war—extolling the moral superiority of small towns and rural areas and calling them "pro-American parts of the country," mocking people who had traveled abroad as spoiled kids with rich parents.
While eschewing "victim feminism," Palin has enthusiastically embraced "victim conservatism": the grievances of cultural traditionalists who feel trampled and disdained by the more educated and influential (and often, more affluent) segments of American society. Like the "oppressed groups" of the left, these traditionalists have some valid complaints but channel them into a destructive ideology of polarization and resentment.
Such a zeal can energize the base—but also fatally split it and alienate the unconverted.
Most likely, Palin will be back. But if conservatives expect her to be their warrior princess in shining armor, they are courting defeat.
Cathy Young is a Reason contributing editor and a columnist at RealClearPolitics. She blogs at cathyyoung.wordpress.com. This article originally appeared at RealClearPolitics.
Bump, and thank you, for the link. I have been meaning to read that, and I am darn glad I did :)
Tatt
Gee, whom to believe.
Gotta go with Mike Reagan.
I would like to point that not a lot of people who where “true” conservatives liked Reagan.. Heck, the Losertarian Party got 1% of the national vote in 1980..
I wouldn’t go that far. I haven’t heard anything about Palin that would make me dislike her more than McCain, at the very worst. If she has a limited following but has good sense (which is very likely the case) and a commitment to reducing the size of government, she can get behind a better candidate if we’re lucky enough to get one between now and 2012.
I’ve been accused of being a ‘RomneyBot’ by a small band from the PalinChoir who were stalking me. Also a ‘RudyBot’ and a McCain supporter (I did vote for McCain against 0bama, that is true... but it’s not like I was ever his running mate or anything.)
I’m very keen on Gingrich. I think he is exactly what we need if we want to take 0bama out of office in 2012. But that doesn’t mean I’m a Newt booster, either. It remains to be seen if he enters the race, who else enters the race, and how Newt does against the competition. there may be others who prove themselves just as capable as Newt.
I have an idea of what is needed to win (and what/who will spell certain defeat). But I keep a completely open mind to what the future actually brings. It all remains to be seen in the 2011/2012 cycle.
:)
Utter nonsense! Reagan NEVER referred to himself, in any way, shape or form, as a 'libertarian'.
counterpunch, you really should try another tactic, besides lying, to get your points across.
It's just a fact that she will get pegged as an uneducated hick no matter what. They will pick at anything, like the Bush 'gotcha' questions about who is Kenya's Interior Minister's secretary's dry cleaner? I don't expect this tactic to ever change. I'm just pointing out that it is disingenuous. Our current VP, a seasoned lawyer - Senator for over 30 years didn't know what section of the constitution describes the VP's role.
If she’s really aiming for 2012, she’d better get busy.
I don't know if Palin has her sights on 2012 or not. She may not be interested in playing an active role in national or state politics again. It's not up to me, or anyone on FR. But I've read all the criticisms about her. And I saw what she did for conservatives last year. And I can only offer this advice to her critics. George W. Bush faced many of the same criticisms. And he beat the democrats twice. Don't misunderestimate another 'hick'.
The loss that the GOP would incur with Palin as their standard-bearer indeed frightens me.
And it should frighten you too.
Unless you like what 0bama is doing now.... because it ain’t nothin’ compared to what he’ll do in his second term.
We already have McCain and his hand-picked protege from Alaska to thank for 0bama’s first term.
It’s time to turn back before it’s too late.
Sarah Palin’s gonna prove herself. She’ll make liking and appreciating her easy. So let the experts complain. Let her be the loser, the divider, the not-smart-enough... and then watch and reconsider. My bet is it’s gonna be a WOW and a learning experience on how America is capable of righting herself, getting sane and sober again after a binge. My money’s on Sarah. Never mind odd notions of perfection: just think sanity, responsibility, honesty... America back on track again. She is the only viable candidate. And now’s the time to back her up and create consensus around her, no matter what shade of Republican. America hasn’t been in such danger since the Civil War. It’s gonna get ugly. Back Sarah Palin and make her strong for 2012. She’s the only real and viable anti-Obama.
You put yourself out there so much, I thought you were volunteering to be a punching bag to help Palin out. Now you are a frequent flyer victim? ROTFL
The next best thing is to elect leadership which isn’t too proud to seek the guidance from our Creator.
There, fixed it. =:-D
Maybe so. But I guess I never thought of her in Cathy Young's terms: as a yahoo version of all those proffessional whining feminist victim pols, looking for handouts..Oh, wait! She doesent talk about handouts, does she?
So I guess its just an aesthetic thing, isn't it?. Cathy Young is one of those libertarians that have no use for social conservatives, unless they pretend to be something "else" also. Like.. an intellectual.
Get used to it.
Here’s the sad truth folks, we will never see another conservative president, it’s over, just as they destroyed her during the campaign they hounded her afterwards until she was utterly destroyed. Nobody, not a single true conservative can ever reach the White House again, it is impossible, the country has changed, no longer believes what it once did. Sarah is just an example, but it is over folks, and if you don’t believe that you are barking at the wind. Once government health care is installed, and it will be, you can never undo it, Obama is rolling so much socialism into this country that 50 years of Sarah Palin could not undo it. Have a nice weekend ...
Actually, it’s the Palin detractors who can’t be reasoned with. They see themselves as “elite” and “above the rest of us mere mortals.”More lies told last year in a desperate attempt to prop Palin up against mounting criticisms from all quarters.
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