The Palin Perplexity
Sarah Palin is the best thing that's happened lately to the right and the left, both at the same time. Much of the right pays her obeisance for mobilizing the troops and smart-alecking the left—which in turn loves her for splitting (so the left hopes) the right over her personality and track record.
The best way for a conservative to incur a black eye and a "country club Republican" label is to suggest that the mother of Bristol Palin and host of "Sarah Palin's Alaska" hasn't it in her to lead the world's—still, we hope—leading nation.
Not requiring a black eye at the moment, I decline to enter the contest. There's a basic question to consider, all the same: Must we take it for granted that a best-selling author and all-purpose celeb has presidential aspirations we are obliged to sort through?
Might it not prove the case that she's merely enjoying celebrity and the accompanying paychecks and royalties? The ex-governor's nimble instincts don't—yet—prove anything about her save that she's quicker on her feet than Bristol; with a matchless eye for what was once called the main chance; not to mention, as Americans used to say, the nerve of an Army mule.
If we grant her celebrity status, that takes care of a lot of problems. We don't have to psychoanalyze her constantly, as if she were Barack Obama. Conservatives can settle back and let her give speeches (which she does with enormous enthusiasm, if less-than-great pitch and intonation) for any candidate she wants to endorse. There's really no Palin problem in this event. She's a free lance, like the roving European knights whose military careers gave rise to the name. A free lance is fine.
What if she does, though, after all, want to be president? The Sarah conundrum rises at this point to a higher, more feverish pitch. I might circle around the matter cautiously and suggest that the pathway to the White House is less promising than it once was for inspirational speakers with great life stories. A principle reason for this is Barack H. Obama.
Once bitten, twice shy, is the folk adage. A couple of years ago, the public—especially that portion susceptible to the political love bug—fell hard for a barely known Illinois senator, one Mr. Obama. He was too cool for words—an opinion that everyone now is sure he shares. Two years later ... well, why go into what everyone knows?
The parallels between Obama and Palin are marked: thin resumes, large talents for getting attention. Some of the backlash against Palin's overnight fame actually resembles the sniping and disdain that has followed Obama since the election. Whereas once he could do no wrong, he now seems incapable—as the left sees it—of doing any right.
Palin comes on, politically, like the upperclassman a sorority pledge met late one night at the "Twilight" costume party: best abs ever and, oh, those discreet tattoos!—but will he still respect me in the morning?
There is no reason to suspect Palin of attempting a con job, saying what she says, in the way she says it, for mere personal aggrandizement. On the other hand, before we hand over the country to her, we need to take the lady's measure in terms of character, intelligence and skills. We need to know her philosophy, her ideals—not just in glittering outline but instead in specifics. How would she save Medicare? How would she deal with Putin, Karzai, Chavez and Ahmadinejad? How would she like America to integrate newcomers into its national life? How would she have us protect unborn life?
Voters need not to guess at these things; they need clear understandings from candidate A or B, or P, as to what proposals they would advance.
President Palin? We can't rule that out in the long run. But please not in 2012. There isn't time for that—not a fourth of it, not a tenth. She needs to grow on us as our problems, our challenges, our opportunities grow on her.
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What little I know of Mrs. Palin, I like very much. She's one of us, one of the common people. But there is a problem. Sarah has been marching arm in arm with the Israeli lobby's Irving Kristol. We need a Commander-in-Chief whose first loyalty is with the good old US of A.
I agree with Mr. Murchison. The same argument was being made by intelligent politicos about G. W. Bush before he was elected on the basis that he was not Bill Clinton.
Imagine if conservatives had taken Mr. Murchison's advice ten years ago and applied it to G. W. Bush?
For instance " Before we handed over the country to him, we would have taken the gentleman's measure in terms of character, intelligence and political skill. If we would have known his philosophy, his ideals—not just in glittering outline (about bringing dignity to the Oval Office etc.) but instead in specifics. How would he and Ted Kennedy actually save Education? How would they ultimately attempt to leave no child behind? What did he really mean by prescription drug benefits for "our elderly"? How would he deal with Putin, Sharon, Hussein, or even Cheney, Scooter Libby and the others in his administration who were smarter and more cunning than he? How would he like America to integrate newcomers into its national life? What were his real views on building new nations in old Babylon and Assyria? How would he protect unborn life once he was made president? Who is Harriet and why her her?
I think Mr. Murchison is probably right about an informed citizenry; for, if only we had known, we could have what? Elected Al Gore or Mr. Kerry instead?
Sarah Palin may be more or less exactly what she appears, probably much less. Yet, "thin resumes (and) large talent for getting attention" seems to have been the mark of true "presidential timber" in the duopoly forest for some time. Or as Tom Fleming has said elsewhere in these pages, "it is always difficult to lead a mob, but Jerks usually deserve what they get..." or words to that effect.
I don't see why so many folks go gaga over her. If you really listen to her rhetoric on anything resembling a policy stance all she comes across as is George W. Bush with a vagina. In essence the dolts in the Tea Party, GOP, will just be voting in the policies that the voting populace voted out in 2008. Not much change in that at all. Dr. Fleming is right, this is a nation of jerks that deserve to lose everything.
Ok, the republican party started life with that avant garde fellow with the beard; you know,thinking that one would best represent the new "republican" party by devoting his political career to destroying the principles of republican government. Fast forward to now and we see all these "republicans" who cannot see that military adventurism is not compatible with either patriotism or liberty.
A Palin Presidency would increase Israel's control over Washington. She is a world-class Chiliast who can not be trusted with the keys to my car say nothing about trusting her with the keys to all of that tyrannical power she would have if elected.
I've always said of Palin, she's a mile wide and an inch deep. Not qualified. But then neither was the even less so POTUS.
#2
For instance ” Before we handed over the country to him, we would have taken the gentleman’s measure in terms of character, intelligence and political skill. If we would have known his philosophy, his ideals—not just in glittering outline (about bringing dignity to the Oval Office etc.) but instead in specifics. How would he and Ted Kennedy actually save Education? How would they ultimately attempt to leave no child behind? What did he really mean by prescription drug benefits for “our elderly”? How would he deal with Putin, Sharon, Hussein, or even Cheney, Scooter Libby and the others in his administration who were smarter and more cunning than he? How would he like America to integrate newcomers into its national life? What were his real views on building new nations in old Babylon and Assyria? How would he protect unborn life once he was made president?"
It's more than a little odd that we have not heard such comments and questions applied to Obama in the Chronicles posts and comments.
Not before he was elected and not since. By my tally, he fails the test on all counts.
By contrast Ms Palin has not declared her intention to run. Is it that we are hoping she won't run? Or is it that we hope she will conform to our ideals as a candidate? Why aren't some of the writers/commentators here recommending a better alternative? Would it be that by being just negative about some possible candidate we don't risk being ridiculed for saying something positive?
Sarah Palin is the Zionist's zany soubrette who will attract the votes of putative conservatives simply because liberals hate her.
If you desire to vote for The POTUS, write in Mr. Fleming.
As for me and mine, we are staying home that day, listening to Vivaldi, Barbara Bonney, and Waylon Jennings, and getting flat out drunk on Cabernet.
#7 Mr. Smith,
"It’s more than a little odd that we have not heard such comments and questions applied to Obama in the Chronicles posts and comments."
There are known and unknowns. Mr. Obama was a known quantity by any of the most broad and sweeping standards of inclusion in the terms traditional and conservative. We got what we deserved and there is little use in pretending that he has acted or has lead in any fashion other than what any thinking man could expect. It is the misplaced expectations of similar fools from the GOP that should be condemned as uninviting. Chronicles is also a known quantity and only a man blinded by his own desires, would mistake their serious assesments of the current poltical climate with endorsement of the leftist destroyers such as Mr. Obama. Don't ask don't tell may not be the best policy, but it is perhaps a shade better than the blind leading the blind.
As Bristol Palin's high school out-of-wedlock pregnancy helps prove, Sarah Palin has been inadequate in fulfilling the duties of mother to her children. How can she be trusted to run a government if she can't even run a household?
At best, Sarah Palin as president would become the rogue Jefferson Smith. At worst, Mrs. Palin would play the game and take direction from the Jim Taylors and Senator Joseph Paines who dominate the cesspool by the Potomac. Bill Kristol is waiting in the wings.