A colleague who is a regular reader came by my office today. "Jeff," he said, "I cannot believe some of the things people are saying about Sarah Palin. You and I both know that if she only had a degree from Harvard or Yale, most of that criticism would go away."When I challenged that comment, the response and one that I found hard to answer was "All Bill Clinton needed to clean up his act in the eyes of elitists was a fancy degree. She is no more a "bubba" than he is. This is all about class."
I think he is right in one respect. And I am also sure that her selection for VP by McCain is the most cynical act I have seen recently by a politician because of what it assumes about the basic American voter. The one respect in which he is right is that the discussion is all about class. In fact, it has reached ridicule level.
I am not even remotely tempted to vote for her despite my Schadenfreudidan tendencies that rage when the analysis of the elitists go no further than where she went to school, her pregnant daughter, her snowmobiling husband, and all the other things that they find appalling. Wouldn't it be wonderful to see them sweat if she had all of that and her Yale degree.
I cannot vote for her because I disagree with almost everything that comes out of her mouth. From their discussions it seems that elitists will not vote for her, not because of her ideals, but because she should know better than to aspire to something outside her reach.
1 comment:
Hello, Professor -- I hope you are well!
Well, as a shill for the GOP, I have to say that the pick may be termed "cynical," sure, but it was shrewd as well, and not least because I have been telling people for a year (that is, when she had even less experience) that *I* would pick her as VP.
She unifies the party in a way that no other VP does, she is a superior speaker to anyone else in the race, and she seems to be authentically conservative (though with some weird, weird baggage... Buchanan in 2000...?). Just as elitists recoil, many conservatives like myself see her as the daughter we would all like to raise: someone who is strong, opinionated, and adept in both feminine and masculine tropes.
I would not compare her to Margaret Thatcher, who is in my pantheon of heroes, as a savior. But just as the elites fought Thatcher, so too will they fight very hard against Palin.
(( The BBC recently produced a film on her depicting her battle against the elites half a century ago... some excellent YouTubes show it, including this one: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H4w1UPX_fC0 ... if you dare to watch, make sure to see from 3:55 - 6:05 ))
PS*** Trisha Low and I may be meeting in Iceland in October. Shall I relay your regards??
Post a Comment