Sarah Palin: Progress or a Step Back?

A little over a year ago, Republican presidential candidate John McCain was keeping the nation guessing when it came to his running mate for Vice-President. Mitt Romney was a name thrown around frequently, as was Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty. Little did we know that the person he was going to pick was about to become one of the biggest butt of countless jokes. When he announced his running mate was going to be the Governor of Alaska, Sarah Palin, no one knew who she was, and many people thought it was a good idea to have a female stand beside him. Even I, as a Democrat, thought John McCain was making a smart move in his campaign. But before the Republican Party knew what hit them, a backlash was almost instantly formed against Palin, slamming her inexperience and her “Alaskanomics”.

As with Barack Obama, people uncovered many controversial issues with Palin, including her pregnant daughter, who was still a senior in high school when the campaign started, as well as finding out how she was charging the cost of her hair and clothing to the campaign itself. An article I found from Time talked about her Alaskanomics, and her claim of how she was a fiscal conservative. “Back to reality. Of the 50 states, Alaska ranks No. 1 in taxes per resident and No. 1 in spending per resident. Its tax burden per resident is 2 1/2 times the national average; its spending, more than double. The trick is that Alaska's government spends money on its own citizens and taxes the rest of us to pay for it. Although Palin, like McCain, talks about liberating ourselves from dependence on foreign oil, there is no evidence that being dependent on Alaskan oil would be any more pleasant to the pocketbook.” (Michael Kinsley) In addition to that, the article also talked about how Alaska was the number one state in the nation to receive money from Washington, and was number one in federal spending per resident.

More claims that Sarah Palin has made and have been proven false include her allegation that she was against the “Bridge to Nowhere” (a bridge to connect two Alaskan islands, one with an airport).

In reality, she supported it and promoted it within Alaska, and even though the bridge was never built, Alaska kept $230 million dollars in tax payer funds, and $20 million in funds for the bridge. Also from the Time article: “Palin has continued to repeat the already exposed lie that she said "No, thanks" to the famous "bridge to nowhere" (McCain's favorite example of wasteful federal spending). In fact, she said "Yes, please" until the project became a symbol and political albatross.” (Michael Kinsley) Also, she denied association with the Alaska Independence Party (a political party that was established to challenge the legitimacy of Alaska becoming a part of the United States, and it still exists today with the goal of making Alaska into a separate country, so that the state can charge the US market higher prices for its oil), when in truth she had been associated with them for 14 years and her husband, Todd Palin, was a registered AIP member from 1995-2002. Above is a recorded clip of Palin shown at the AIP 2008 convention. All of the recorded and photographic proofs that go against her original claims to get the public’s support continue to hurt her credibility as a politician that the United States can rely on.

Now I can lead into the Double Bind problem, which we learned in class. The definition of the term is “the cultural norms for being a “good” woman are the opposite of those for being a good leader.” Sarah Palin used the fact that she was a mother of five children (the youngest being mentally impaired) as a way to relate to female voters, going on about how she was still a normal hockey mom even though she ran a state. While that tactic worked, it also brought on a whole new aspect to the campaign. Palin, along with John McCain’s wife Cindy, were frequently referred to as MILF’s and became extremely “pornified” (the mainstreaming of narratives, metaphors, images, and frames pulled from the realm of pornography). In addition to that a “pornified” image needs not to be explicit as actual pornography, rather it connotes interpretations that are hyper-sexual, exploitation, and/or masochistic. (Straight out of the lecture!) Many girls I know dressed as Palin or McCain for Halloween, but none of them wore a pantsuit that’s for sure. I mostly saw suit jackets and extremely skimpy bottoms to go with it. You know it’s not just something guys think when females are willingly going along with the image of pornifiying the women who are supposed to run our country, (in contrast, think of what a Hillary Clinton costume would look like? Yikes!) and be an inspiration to fellow women everywhere. Case in point:

How many other Vice-Presidential nominees do you know that have their own porn? Palin was also a beauty queen contestant, competing for Miss Alaska in 1984. Now, let’s just be honest. Sarah Palin definitely played up the fact that she was a former beauty queen, and an attractive female that was running for office. I’m sure the attention she received for her “sexy librarian glasses” and fancy up-do was the last of her worries.

As we all know (at least I hope so), the election came and went, McCain and Palin were defeated by Obama and Biden. While many of us hoped that Sarah Palin’s time in the spotlight was over, she was determined to not let that happen. A few months went by after President Obama’s inauguration, with the whole nation watching and judging him, quickly forgetting about his competitors. But then, WABAM! She was back in July, with her announcement that she was resigning as the Governor of Alaska. Once again, she was back in the news with rumors swirling that her marriage was on the rocks and that was the cause of her stepping down. Many speculated she wanted to ready herself for the 2012 election. It didn’t help that the father of her 17 year old daughter’s child came out swinging by throwing himself into pop culture with interviews about the Palin household. He never really had many nice things to say about her. Take for example his interview with Vanity Fair: "Sarah walked around the house pouting ... one or two weeks after she got back, she started talking about how nice it would be to quit, write a book or do a show and make triple the money.” Well funny enough, Sarah Palin did write a book (actually, someone ghost wrote for her) and the release for Going Rogue: An American Life will be available for all Sarah Palin enthusiasts starting November 17^th. She has also started/attempted to lecture to crowds. She signed with the Washington Speakers Bureau, who also represents Condaleeza Rice, George W. Bush, and magician David Blaine, among others. She is rumored to be asking for $100,000 per speech, but unfortunately, no one has been jumping at the chance to book her. According to Page Six, ““The big lecture buyers in the US are paralyzed with fear about booking her, basically because they think she is a blithering idiot."Many big lecture venues are subscription series, "and they don't want to tick people off," said our source. "Palin is polarizing, and some subscribers might cancel if she's on the lineup." Other lecture buyers are universities, which have a leftist slant, and corporations, which dislike controversy.”” Well that doesn’t sound like good news.

While Sarah Palin did accomplish quite a few things none of us would have ever expected (like surprising all of us at the VP debates), it is hard for many people to fully accept her as a prominent political figure. While I’m sure she will always have a reputation as a lipstick wearing pit-bull, I personally hope a pit-bull won’t ever be running our country.

Resources

http://m.nypost.com/ms/p/nyp/nyp/sBJi7rHApNUPe3RtcOrYA_w/view.m?id=23202&storyid=4.0.817918059

http://www.palintruth.org/

http://www.time.com/time/politics/article/0,8599,1839724-1,00.html

http://www.thehollywoodgossip.com/2009/09/levi-johnston-sarah-palin-wanted-bristol-palin-pregnancy-secret/

http://www.thehollywoodgossip.com/2009/09/sarah-palin-memoir-to-be-released-on-november-17/