Thursday, December 23, 2010

The Problem With Sarah


I like Sarah Palin.

I can hear all the boos and hisses roaring through cyber space as both my Republican and Democrat friends are reading that line. But, it’s true and I don’t mind admitting it. Would I vote for her? Not today, maybe not in 2012. Do I think she would be a good candidate? Sure. Why not? Anything is better than the current occupant of 1600.

That “why not”, has become a fun phrase for me this Holiday Season on the precipice of what will surely be an announcement in the next couple of months. Mostly because I am not clear on the polarizing effect this woman has on people. I don’t see the reason there is so much hate directed towards her by both R’s and D’s. So, I have been asking everyone I can: “why not?” Frankly, I’m getting the answers I expected.

This week in New York City I posed the question to some of my favorite people. Folks I consider bastions of intelligence and fair mindedness. Except when it comes to Sarah.

This is how one conversation went, with the most vehement of Sarah haters in the group. I am leaving the person’s name out on purpose because I don’t want to embarrass them. Let’s call the person SPH.

Me: Tell me the real reasons why you don’t like Sarah Palin?

SPH: Because she’s so stupid.

Me: Really? Palin’s stupid? Did you make $30 million last year?

SPH: Stupid people are capable of making money too you know.

Me: Do you really think she is stupid? Tell the truth?

SPH: Ok, no, she’s not stupid but she has set women back 40 years?

Me: How?

SPH: Oh come on.

Me: Seriously, how? How has she set back women? I am assuming you mean equality wise.

SPH: It’s so obvious.

Me: OK. Then why am I missing it?

SPH: Mama Grizzlies?

Me: What about them? What’s the problem with being a strong woman? What is the problem with protecting your family, being loyal to your family? You’re a feminist, why can’t a woman embrace these things? Does every woman have to be Gertrude Stein?

SPH: Nothing is wrong with those things. That’s where she should stay, at home protecting and being loyal to her family. She has no experience.

Me: City council member, Mayor, Governor, Candidate for Vice President. Responsible for cutting the Gubernatorial budget by 80% in Alaska, bringing awareness to Alaska, teaching the State businesses that they need to form an economy not dependant on Federal spending. That’s just a short list and you call someone like this inexperienced? Have you met our current President?  He has never done any of that and certainly isn’t doing any of it now. So, let me ask again, do you honestly believe Palin to not have any experience? Oh, and also, are these things a stupid person is capable of accomplishing?

Silence.

Me: Come on? I’m listening. I want to know, why is Sarah Palin in your lexicon of hate?

SPH: She pisses me off.

Me: Why?

SPH: She’s a whiner. Always bitching about the media and how they portray her. Thinking they are out to get her.

Me: They’re not? Of course, they are out to get her and you’re swallowing it right up. For the amount of time Palin is out there pitching, the only thing the media ever focused on is piddly little mistakes everyone makes. Trust me, under the same microscope everyone would look like an idiot. They have absolutely targeted Palin.

SPH: See? She even has you believing it.

Me: Because it’s true! Sometimes things are what they are. They hate Palin, just like you do and for what reason? That’s what I am trying to figure out. I think Bush haters are kind of ridiculous too, but at least he had a record they could rightly or wrongly, draw upon. Sarah’s record is pretty damn impressive. Sarah’s dealt with a media induced smear campaign since day 1.

Well, I still haven’t figured it out. I had that very same conversation with different derivatives and no solid reasons were given.

I know what the problems with Sarah are on the political level. What I don’t get is the deeply personal issues people have with her.

I, for one see no reason why she wouldn’t make a good candidate. I don’t think she is stupid. I think she builds on her experience everyday and she learns something from all of her projects. Palin knows how to bring awareness. Her curb appeal is obvious to me. Whether or not she has the real substance behind it is what is bothersome. I think she has the basis to be a great leader. She’s cheap, understands the plight of the American family, realizes that an economy cannot rely on Federal spending to move it along, and knows how to protect those she loves. That is an American leader. Not some Johnny come lately jackass community organizer elected President merely because his predecessor conjured enough hatred amongst the American public that any change was considered acceptable. Talk about lowered expectations.
Sarah’s problem is what I refer to as the polarization of the Coasts. I’ve said it before and am sure I will say it throughout my life as I don’t see it changing. The East and West Coast doctor the spin in politics and they hate Sarah. The coasts lead the charge in any Presidential election and the middle of the country tends to just follow along. The Coasts love to intellectualize everything.

I love intellectualization. It’s fun. If I had the opportunity, I would do nothing but sit around all day and intellectualize everything in my life. I would live inside my own head and have great fun thinking about things like; what would happen if instead of teaching my son right from wrong, left from right, etc., I just sat here and observed the wonder of him trying to figure it all out on his own. What would happen? What if I didn’t go outside chop some wood and started a fire, or turned up the thermostat to keep warm. What would freezing be like? Would I be better intellectually for the experience? I mean I know from what others have taught me that my son would end up a ravaged dolt, we would die from exposure and so on and so forth. But, do I really know it? Maybe I should just sit here and think and let life go on about me.

Well, that’s a cheap example but it’s pretty much what the Coasts like to do. They seem to tarry to the sort of people who would rather sit around enjoying their own oblivion lost in thought rather than actually doing something about anything at all. And, anyone who speaks in plain and simple truths are just plain stupid. Sarah fits in that category to these people.

These people would rather hear a bunch of platitudes laid out in eloquent well-parsed oratory than hear the actual root of problems and their subsequent solutions. They would rather be sold a bill of goods aimed at making them feel better despite the fact that bill of goods will never be delivered.

Yeah, I cringe when I listen to some of her speeches too. Her style leaves me a little limp, but the foundation is there. She knows what a gallon of milk costs. She knows the value of a dollar, how to protect that value and how to communicate with the masses more than the intelligentsia. What the hell is wrong with that?

Oh, and did I mention, I think she’s hot?


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