Palin Problem - Kathleen Parker

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Registered: 08-28-2008
Palin Problem - Kathleen Parker
1
Fri, 09-26-2008 - 1:23pm

 September 26, 2008 12:00 AM

Palin Problem
She’s out of her league.

By Kathleen Parker







If at one time women were considered heretical for swimming upstream against feminist orthodoxy, they now face condemnation for swimming downstream — away from Sarah Palin.

To express reservations about her qualifications to be vice president — and possibly president — is to risk being labeled anti-woman.


Or, as I am guilty of charging her early critics, supporting only a certain kind of woman.

Some of the passionately feminist critics of Palin who attacked her personally deserved some of the backlash they received. But circumstances have changed since Palin was introduced as just a hockey mom with lipstick — what a difference a financial crisis makes — and a more complicated picture has emerged.

As we’ve seen and heard more from John McCain’s running mate, it is increasingly clear that Palin is a problem. Quick study or not, she doesn’t know enough about economics and foreign policy to make Americans comfortable with a President Palin should conditions warrant her promotion.

Yes, she recently met and turned several heads of state as the United Nations General Assembly convened in New York. She was gracious, charming and disarming. Men swooned. Pakistan’s president wanted to hug her. (Perhaps Osama bin Laden is dying to meet her?)

And, yes, she has common sense, something we value. And she’s had executive experience as a mayor and a governor, though of relatively small constituencies (about 6,000 and 680,000, respectively).

Finally, Palin’s narrative is fun, inspiring and all-American in that frontier way we seem to admire. When Palin first emerged as John McCain’s running mate, I confess I was delighted. She was the antithesis and nemesis of the hirsute, Birkenstock-wearing sisterhood — a refreshing feminist of a different order who personified the modern successful working mother.

Palin didn’t make a mess cracking the glass ceiling. She simply glided through it.

It was fun while it lasted.

Palin’s recent interviews with Charles Gibson, Sean Hannity, and now Katie Couric have all revealed an attractive, earnest, confident candidate. Who Is Clearly Out Of Her League.

No one hates saying that more than I do. Like so many women, I’ve been pulling for Palin, wishing her the best, hoping she will perform brilliantly. I’ve also noticed that I watch her interviews with the held breath of an anxious parent, my finger poised over the mute button in case it gets too painful. Unfortunately, it often does. My cringe reflex is exhausted.

Palin filibusters. She repeats words, filling space with deadwood. Cut the verbiage and there’s not much content there. Here’s but one example of many from her interview with Hannity: “Well, there is a danger in allowing some obsessive partisanship to get into the issue that we’re talking about today. And that’s something that John McCain, too, his track record, proving that he can work both sides of the aisle, he can surpass the partisanship that must be surpassed to deal with an issue like this.”

When Couric pointed to polls showing that the financial crisis had boosted Obama’s numbers, Palin blustered wordily: “I’m not looking at poll numbers. What I think Americans at the end of the day are going to be able to go back and look at track records and see who’s more apt to be talking about solutions and wishing for and hoping for solutions for some opportunity to change, and who’s actually done it?”

If BS were currency, Palin could bail out Wall Street herself.

If Palin were a man, we’d all be guffawing, just as we do every time Joe Biden tickles the back of his throat with his toes. But because she’s a woman — and the first ever on a Republican presidential ticket — we are reluctant to say what is painfully true.

What to do?

McCain can’t repudiate his choice for running mate. He not only risks the wrath of the GOP’s unforgiving base, but he invites others to second-guess his executive decision-making ability. Barack Obama faces the same problem with Biden.

Only Palin can save McCain, her party, and the country she loves. She can bow out for personal reasons, perhaps because she wants to spend more time with her newborn. No one would criticize a mother who puts her family first.

Do it for your country.



— Kathleen Parker is a nationally syndicated columnist.

© 2008, Washington Post Writers Group

iVillage Member
Registered: 09-25-2008
Fri, 09-26-2008 - 1:50pm
You know the REALLY interesting thing about this recent column by Ms. Parker? It's not that she's a bog-ordinary movement conservative, nor that this was posted at ClownHall.com. No, though those are certainly noteworthy facts, in the same way that George Will's recent column questioning McCain's temperament and judgment was noteworthy, it's not the real money shot about Ms. Parker's latest effort. To get an idea of what's gone on here, you've got to get a bit of the historical perspective. Luckily, the Merry Pranksters over at Sadly, NO! have done just that for us, in a post entitled.....:




Grease Is The Word



Posted at 17:30 by Travis G.


Summer lovin,’ had me a blast:


Palin’s Palliative, by Kathleen Parker, Sept. 5


When Sarah Palin took the stage Wednesday night, the reaction of conventioneers went beyond mere appreciation. It was gratitude. And relief that the first Republican woman on a presidential ticket wasn’t going to let them down. No one was going to be embarrassed by John McCain’s maverick pick.


Summer lovin’ happened so fast:


Several days of brutal scrutiny leading up to her acceptance speech had given them cause to wonder.


Tell me more, tell me more, did you get very far?


Much of the off-mic talk in St. Paul the past few days centered on whether she was up to the fight. Would she be able to make it through? Would she crumble? Did Palin have the stuff to withstand the bludgeoning scrutiny?


Tell me more, tell me more, like, does she have a car?


I suspect that even many Democrats would confess to a private hope that Palin would do well. There aren’t enough women in high places yet for us to enjoy a first-woman’s stumble, no matter what the arena.


Palin delivered.


Summer sun, something’s begun, but uh-oh those summer nights:


A Time to Worry, by Kathleen Parker, Sept. 19


I love Palin for her chutzpah, courage, maverickness and her authenticity. As a woman, I want her to be fantastic. I want her to expose the fraudulence of identity politics and show the world that Woman is not just one thing. But my inner eye is watching. And my inner voice is saying: These are not good enough reasons.


I worry.


Tell me more, tell me more, was it love at first sight?


The Palin Problem, by Kathleen Parker, Sept. 26


I am guilty of charging her early critics, supporting only a certain kind of woman.


Tell me more, tell me more, did she put up a fight?


Some of the passionately feminist critics of Palin who attacked her personally deserved some of the backlash they received. But circumstances have changed since Palin was introduced as just a hockey mom with lipstick — what a difference a financial crisis makes — and a more complicated picture has emerged.


Summer fling, don’t mean a thing, but uh-oh those summer nights:


Palin’s narrative is fun, inspiring and all-American in that frontier way we seem to admire. When Palin first emerged as John McCain’s running mate, I confess I was delighted. She was the antithesis and nemesis of the hirsute, Birkenstock-wearing sisterhood — a refreshing feminist of a different order who personified the modern successful working mother.


Palin didn’t make a mess cracking the glass ceiling. She simply glided through it.


It was fun while it lasted.


It turned colder; that’s where it ends, so I told her we’d still be friends:


McCain can’t repudiate his choice for running mate. He not only risks the wrath of the GOP’s unforgiving base, but he invites others to second-guess his executive decision-making ability. Barack Obama faces the same problem with Biden.


Only Palin can save McCain, her party and the country she loves. She can bow out for personal reasons, perhaps because she wants to spend more time with her newborn. No one would criticize a mother who puts her family first.


Do it for your country.


Summer dreams ripped at the seams, but oh, those summer nights…




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