Lefties For Palin
It’s a kind of post-feminist shout-out. “Democrat goes rogue, declares Palin’s book ’great’!” Sandra Tsing-Loh at Salon:
Now hold your horses, you snarky, lefty, NPR-listening, New York Times-subscribing readers of Salon. I haven’t jumped ship to declare Sarah Palin herself “great.” I’m from California, after all; I am not a creationist, I am not pro-life, I have never shot a moose. Nor is my culinary specialty an Alaskan dish called “moose chili.” Here on the Left Coast, along with our hummus, we prefer “turkey chili,” which is perhaps less gamey and lower in fat but in the end, I ask you, is it really more humane? (Who killed the turkey? Was it a person or a corporation? This Trader Joe’s we speak of — is he union? Is his name actually “Joe”? And what is his relation to Big Oil’s manipulation of the rising price of Bristol Bay canned fishery salmon to 27 cents a pound?) These are the complexities one ponders at night while falling asleep under the gristly if at times oddly tasty caribou stew that is Sarah Palin’s new 400-plus-page memoir.
If I am giving Palin’s book a thumbs up, it is qualified by the fact that, let’s face it, the genre of the female political autobiography is itself in its infancy. It’s like some 53rd state, housing at this moment in time only a handful of crude, wooden, lean-to outposts. These are times when former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright can do a book tour based on her pins and brooches, about which “Morning Edition’s” Susan Stamberg will huskily midwife a most empathic and unironic discussion. These are times when Nancy Pelosi comes out with a memoir slender as a Hallmark card, a memoir no living person but me has apparently read, vaguely titled “Know Your Power: A Message to America’s Daughters,” which her publishers carefully deemed (”How shall we describe this?”) a “keepsake.” Then again, one understands why female political books tend toward focus group-approved mottos and tasteful brooches — women have not been in politics for very long and, even more than the men in this rabid age, if they dare utter an opinion or take a stand, they and, weirdly, also their children get media-raped and shredded. (One curious triangulation in Palin’s book is irritation with Obama’s and Biden’s relatively easy media rides coupled with unexpected sympathy for media-slogfested Hillary Clinton. Our bodies, ourselves! “Clinton-Palin in 2012!” Can you imagine? Neither can I.)
So what’s refreshing is that Palin seems unafraid to express herself, warts and all — informal campaign motto: “Heels on! Gloves off!” — and the book just goes where it goes.
It’s an interesting calling of bullshit on the critics that says, what’s wrong with feisty, charming and homespun, harboring some admiration for a woman who does it her way. The review kind of spins off into a wallow in the weird Alaskan rusticness of it all after that, as Tsing-Low fails to explore her own unstated premise, whether woman should be taken seriously on her own terms in a hostile world where other powerful women are punting, and demonstrably failing to take themselves seriously by anyone’s measure.
The walkaway message is, a lot of those hundreds of thousands who have already bought Going Rogue: An American Life are going to be charmed and impressed, as well, in addition to those who are tired of seeing a working mom get beaten up.
Makes a great counterweight to pompous and, as each day goes by, less charming, as well. The big question, if she ends up running, is whether she’ll present coherent and broadly acceptable policy alternatives to the developing trainwreck, whether people will at that point be willing to roll the dice on relative inexperience again, no matter how charming it is. Again, she’s looking a lot now like Ronald Reagan in the late 1970s. Cowboy B-flick actor, in a party crawling out of post-Watergate disarray, whose greatest ally was a dithering, inept Democratic president.
Daily Beast: 300,000 on the first day of sales. Palin-bashing media is Palin’s best friend, and she’s theirs. A regular economic media stimulus. Sounds like the media needs to be firmly placed in the “Lefties for Palin” camp.
The Atlantic has a fun “Going Rogue” quiz. Answers at the end, or you can do your homework here. Your pruchases help support the site.
Posted by Jules Crittenden at 8:06 am Comments (2) on Friday, November 20, 2009
2 Responses to “Lefties For Palin”
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November 20th, 2009 at 5:00 pm
Unless things get significantly more chaotic, I don’t think Palin should run for president in 2012, and it’s not because I don’t like her, because I do; I think she would be vastly more competent than the narcissistic empty suit we have now. It’s just that she currently presents a target as big as GWB did, and the last thing this country needs is more of the ugliness that has prevailed over the last nine years. If we can’t separate respect for the most powerful office in the world from the personality inhabiting it, we’ll only ensure more polarization, more extremist lunacy, and more chaos.
That said, depending on whom we do elect in 2012 (surely not President Obendover), she could be a viable candidate in 2016 or 2020. In any case, she is a remarkably powerful voice for the right just as she is.
November 20th, 2009 at 6:35 pm
Absolutely right, Rebecca. Well said.
I think Palin might be the first to agree with your sentiments. She seems quite sincere about simply wanting to make a difference (rather than being focused on the power). That’s one of the things that’s so refreshing about her.
I think it’s terrific that she’s setting out to help in as many 2010 races as possible. She says she’ll help any candidate who asks, at any level of government, if that person believes in fiscal responsibility and small government. (That’s from the NRO interview.) Somebody tell Scott Brown!
I’m only on page 81 of the book. I like it. It’s uplifting to read about her upbringing and her accomplishments. Hard work, firmly held values, and bulldog tenacity.
Her book emphasizes the difference between party machine politics and political office earned and held by individuals. The story of her insistence on gaining office via the latter method is very instructive. Not to mention timely. Let’s hope it’s the wave of the future.
Growing up, she was very much influenced by Reagan when he came on the scene. I found it cheering to read about that. She’s only 45 years old–it’s interesting and heartening to think of her as representative of a next generation of leaders.