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Robert Price: Sarah Palin and I have some things in common
| Saturday, Sep 6 2008 7:27 PM
Last Updated: Monday, Sep 8 2008 8:26 AM
We had houseguests last weekend, friends from Sacramento passing through on their way to L.A. to drop their daughter at college. John McCain had introduced his running mate just the day before, so politics trumped college tuition as the main topic of conversation.
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None of us had heard of Sarah Palin until the day she appeared on stage next to McCain, and we're the types to pay attention. My office-pool money had been on Mitt Romney, but then nobody in the office had the radar to see the governor of Alaska coming.
Palin seems like the kind of person you'd want at your side if your plane ever crash-lands on the North Slope tundra, but everything else about her had us scratching our heads. Barely a year and a half as governor? Would President McCain honestly be interested in her counsel the first time Putin rattles his sabre? Maybe, but this pick had the initial odor of an appeal to disaffected Hillary Clinton voters.
Then I noticed the answering machine blinking. A conservative friend — I'll call her Kara — must've called while the blender was going. She was out-and-out gloating. Trying to restrain herself, actually, and failing.
"Well, guys, I guess it's over. This Sarah Palin" — and for an instant I thought she was conceding the election on McCain's behalf —"is the most fantastic choice ever. I really feel bad for all those Obama supporters — well, not really. Obama's toast. See ya." And then she stifled what sounded like a chortle.
I hadn't fully considered the possibility that many Americans — conservative women in particular — would instinctively recognize something of themselves in Alaska's gun-toting, kid-raising, no-chauffeur-for-me chief executive. To them, 220 years of y-chromosome exclusivity might be coming to an end in the executive branch, and the woman leading the way cleans her own fish.
It eventually occurred to me that, lipstick and Republican-length skirt aside, I might even be able to see something of myself in Palin. And, sure enough: She'd gone to five colleges over six years and majored in journalism. Same here, except my resume has two fewer colleges. Hey! We have journalism and susceptibility to distraction in common!
I don't think we had any of the same journalism professors, though. Palin's flawlessly delivered RNC speech, equal parts June Cleaver, Demi Moore and ice-pick assassin, clearly cast the media as Obama's accomplice in this nine-week miniseries.
"Here's a little news flash for all those reporters and commentators: I'm not going to Washington to seek their good opinion," she announced, her reading-between-the-lines characterization of reporters as elitist busy-bodies inspiring raucous cheers — and prompting an indeterminate number of journalists to wet themselves slightly.
Funny, but every j-school professor in my inordinately long pursuit of a bachelor's degree told me responsible but tenacious snooping was my patriotic duty. If you want access to the red phone, Madame Governor, give us more than a cursory glance at your resume. Her daughter's pregnancy is irrelevant, and questions about whether she should be home with her new baby vaguely sexist, but everything else is fair game.
Yet some seem to believe certain questions are below the belt. Questions like: Who is this person? What kind of governor has she been? Is she prepared to be one melanoma recurrence away from the Oval Office? And: How well does McCain really know her? How thoroughly was she vetted by his people?
Palin hadn't even left Minnesota before the e-mails started rolling in. Why, many asked, hasn't the media jumped Obama or Biden with the same ferocity? Ah, but they have — just not compressed into so little time. (Recall William Ayers? Tony Rezko? Those plagiarized speeches?) The past week represents frenzied compensation for the fact that no one below the 49th parallel had heard of Palin prior to Aug. 29. We're getting acquainted with her for the first time, all at once — amid indications McCain's people are too.
I know many would prefer the media stick to the cute, fuzzy stuff about Palin — hockey mom, expert in the preparation of caribou tacos. But this is the big leagues now, not Ketchikan. Still think the scrutiny of Palin is uncalled for? I've got a bridge I'd like to sell you. In Ketchikan, coincidentally.