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.
Do you think the country club Republican elite is more scared of Palin or more scared of the Democrats?
I keep hearing this mantra and frankly I consider it laziness. What exactly do they want her to bone up on? Clinton knew all the issues. Biden is a 'foreign policy expert.' Bush 41 was a seasoned beltway insider with extensive experience. They are all failures, or disappointments to say the least.
Know the constitution. Apply it's principles to every decision. Appoint wise executives who also know the constitution to your cabinet. Tell all of them except the SecDef to cut their departments in half. Veto everything that is not in plain language and has more than 10 pages. Support our allies. Make our enemies afraid. Wave as you board Air Force one.
We don't need another law scholar or bureaucratic deal maker. Government should be simple. Collect enough revenue to buy ammunition and gun oil. Keep the bayonets fixed pointing outwards. Repeal, deregulate or unfund everything else.
Small Government by the people, for the people. Pretty much dirty words to the Fed GOP and the dem party. It's abundantly clear that "The Parties" and their echo chambers have nothing but disdain for the people. They are in it for themselves.
Most Sarah haters won't disclose who they support. At least you did. You do him no favors by attacking probably the favorite candidate on this site and the base of the GOP.
The Republican elites better get on board or the Conservative base will leave them asking "What happened?"
Sarah Palin projects an image that is exciting to middle American nominal conservatives, in the same way that Barack Obama projected an image that was exciting to middle American victim identity and race-baited liberals.
Her conservative detractors wonder about the substance behind the image, as do I, but I also wonder about the alternatives to Sarah and ask who is in 2nd place in image attractiveness. There ain't nobody even close.
Besides, an elected Sarah Palin will surround herself with a thousand deputies and advisors, and these folks will tend to be conservative. This is what really matters when Washington changes hands. It's not the President so much as the tentacles of the president, which reach far down into the federal courts and a hundred executive agencies.
Thanks..... I hadn’t heard what he was doing since leaving congress nor if he had any plans regarding another run. I think 12 will be basically decided upon how popular Obama is at the time. If he’s still the ‘One’ then I don’t see it in the cards to defeat him. Thus standing down for a run in 16 maybe a better option.
I think Palin is out for 12 based upon her needing to get her life back in order, family raised, book[s] written, etc. JMO but she needs to reassess her priorities and develop other skills.
Born Ekaterina Jung
1963
Moscow, Soviet Union
Education Rutgers University
Occupation Journalist, writer, research associate
Ethnicity Russian American
http://www.cathyyoung.net/
It’s precisely your use of views on Sarah Palin as a litmus test to determine the saved and the lost that troubles me.
No, she's the "right" according to this Libertarian drivel.
When you have a solid core foundational understanding of the basis of the founding of the country, and the basis of good government,
then you don’t have to be an expert on every topic,
as every topic that comes up can be measured against this core.
Correct! Palin is the Solution.
Ah, so you don’t believe that Christians bear the scent of Christ that is the scent of death to the perishing and the scent of life to the saved, and who react accordingly.
OK, I’ll tell Paul that he’s been trumped by your superior understanding.
Look hotter than any liberal feminists
Mitt has great hair.
Or a great hair dresser.
Palin’s introduction at the Republican Convention impressed me.
After that, it was all treading water upstream for her.
It became clear very quickly that she was just trying to keep her head above water.
Unfortunately, all of the Palin hype that is still repeated out there is just a recitation of the myths the McCain campaign desperately tried insulate her with in the early days as they tried to hold her together.
John McCain created a real monster. Even now, he is still able to lead the Republican party down the path to defeat, yet again.
From your link...
Palin seems to be part of a growing core of Republicans – especially women – who are as mad as hell and ain’t gonna take it anymore.
Liz Cheney is part of this group. So are Michele Bachman, Marsha Blackburn, Rosario Marin, Heather Wilson, Renee Amore and Mary Fallin.
Blackburn, Marin, Bachman, Fallin and Wilson, along with Carly Fiorina and Renee Amore all publicly defended Palin after the smear campaign against her began immediately following her nomination.
For the Peggy Noonans among you, who notice such things, please note:
· Rosario Marin is a Mexican-American, who was the Treasurer of the U.S. during the Bush administration. (Take that Sotomayor.)
· Renee Amore, is African-American and the deputy chairman of the Pennsylvania Republican Party.
· Carly Fiorina was the CEO of a Fortune 500 corporation
· Heather Wilson was a Rhodes scholar who graduated with honors from the Air Force Academy
Not one of these intelligent, accomplished (and, yes, attractive women) who are working mothers, ever doubted for a second Sarah Palin’s intellect or ability!
Who knows maybe Sarah Palin’s new role will be to join forces with these forceful, talented women and provide some spine and direction to the Republican Party. Maybe they can provide what is desperately needed in the party. There is no question the men have not been able to figure it out.
Thank you Mr. Tremoglie.
Sorry, but until somebody clearly better comes along..
Maybe that will be Jesus Christ....I pray he comes before 2012...
Certainly not for the lackluster libertines at Reason.
Save big J for later, Sarah’s great for now.
I guess that depends on what the question is...
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