The piling on process that is attempting to continue the marginalization of Sarah Palin reached an all time high, or should I say...low, with the Op Ed piece by Peggy Noonan in the Wall Street Journal.
Let me start with a premise; I really do not have a firm view of the merits of Sarah Palin's capabilities for national office. She clearly was plucked out of Alaska by John McCain to hopefully energize a generally moribund and virtually doomed campaign. McCain was so out of touch with the modern day election dynamics, and so completely over his head as a campaigner on the national stage, that his maverick image did not help with the press that switched immediately their loyalty to Obama, nor did it help with the conservative base who never really trusted him anyhow, nor did it help with the moderates because he never seemed to be able to break through the "old man, old mind" image.
Further, Palin was not, and still is not, steeped in national political issues. She was a very popular Governor of a very distant state, and that gives you no real connection to the main stream issues on the mainland, lower 48. In a very personal anecdotal observation; I live in Hawaii for almost seven years, and no matter hard hard you try to stay connected to the mainland, the average citizen of that state, even those of us who got there by way of the mainland, slowly end up being very parochial about the issues that dominate your thinking. As much of a political junkie as I am; I assure you my thinking was dominated by Hawaii issues because when you live that far away from the "mainland or the lower 48," you really are isolated. To ask Sarah Palin to become a national and global "policy wonk" in ten days, was absurd.
Further, Sarah Palin has "No" credible academic or national stage credentials. She attend several colleges and Universities, and just got a degree. She has not advanced her intellectual stature with a graduate degree; has not attended Oxford; has not lived in a major metropolitan city where she could build a resume of national or global pro bono or NGO activities. She has not been a force in national party activities; prior to her nomination, she was virtually unknown in the "lower 48" and had a blank slate reputation. In essence, she had no "resume" and went from virtual unknown, to a national presence, literally overnight.
So, all those women who have been "paying their dues" in the elite capitals of the US and the globe, saw this "nobody" come on the scene, and they were appalled with her lack of resume. They also saw this very attractive woman who, to them, seemed totally "out of date." Her hair style was from the 50's, her speech patterns were more like "Joe six pack" than a sophisticated politician; her views on the role of faith violated the core values of the vast number of "secular thinking women;" her views on abortion and the child with a serious developmental deficiency, violated the "right to chose" supporters. All in all, Sarah Palin had not paid her dues, and her views were antithetical to many of the "liberated woman" in the media and in the great eastern establishment.
In my view that is what is comical about the Peggy Noonan account. She could not admit that any of that applied to her and her eastern establishment colleagues, so she had to state those reasons and then, disparage them. Noonan holds herself out as a moderate Republican, but on balance, she really is not a conservative. Irrespective of your convictions about Sarah Palin's intellectual clout, or "gravitas," Palin is a conservative, both fiscal and cultural.
Candidly, I remain appalled at the trashing of this woman. The treatment she has taken from the likes of Letterman is crude and unquestionably inappropriate. For Noonan to even suggest that she should "make up" with Letterman like McCain did, is absurd on its face. If any of these comments were made by any Republican or conservative talk show host about a liberal woman; the liberals would be having apoplectic fits. The commentators would be called misogynistic and the hosts would be getting calls for resignation or firing. The double standard is simply breathtaking.
Now, let's talk about substance. Noonan's piece attempts to mask her core disdain for Palin in the cloak of a need for gravitas and depth of thinking. In short, Noonan thinks that the Republican's need a thoughtful, bright "adult" who can challenge the brilliant cadre lead by Barack Obama. Well, I am afraid I have nothing but disdain for the core values, principles and policies of Obama, so I am afraid I do not think that they should be the standard.
We need Republican's who can articulate a well reasoned argument in favor of conservative values. Unfortunately, far too few politicians who claim to be Republican's are actually sufficiently passionate about conservative vales and principles to "hang tough." The irony is that the liberals have passion for their causes, and they use that passion to sell the populist agenda to the many. When Republicans stray from the core values of individual liberty, fiscal responsibility, economic development through encouraging innovation and entrepreneurship and private enterprise and providing a strong national security interests, they simply become welfare state liberals. This happens mostly because they abandon these principles in order to pander to what they perceive to be a "liberal voter base." The irony is, the US remains a center right society, so if they would just operate with those principles, they would win most of the time. It is when they try to out spend the tax and spend liberals, that they drift away and ultimately lose. Witness the drug benefit decision by George Bush. What value did that have for him when it was time to be reelected? The AARP hated Bush and hates the Republicans.
Sarah Palin may not be the intellectual equal of Hilary Clinton or Barack Obama, but she is Obama's equal on passion and far superior than Hilary. What she says she believes, and what she believes is very close to the core beliefs of "middle America." The core issue is, can she gain stature, presence and "gravitas" required to be the leader of the party. I would probably bet she can not be the leader, but I do believe that she can, and will be, a very effective spokesperson for the values that I believe in. I am a political and fiscal conservative and a very conservative economist. I believe that Obama is taking us so far left that we may never be able to reverse the trend, but I am not willing to go down without a big fight for preserving the principles that in my personal view are what made this country great.
I would make another bet: Sarah Palin will grow dramatically in substance and depth, and she will also continue to be a lightening rod for the liberal left, as well as the moderate right. The Nancy Noonans of the US establishment will never like Sarah Palin; she is simply too simple. But, the elite establishment is losing its ability to make the country theirs. Actually, Barack Obama proved that in the last election. He did it through adherence to the Rules for Radicals lessons he learned on the streets of Chicago as a Community Organizer. Our next President will win because he or she will better connect with the large number of people who believe that they are not represented by the political establishment in Washington. Right now, Sarah Palin has their ear. It may not continue, but whoever gets elected will have that appeal to the massive middle right population.
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