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Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist Ellen Goodman started her career as a researcher for Newsweek, and moved on to become a reporter for the Detroit ...
Read more about Ellen Goodman.
Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist Ellen Goodman started her career as a researcher for Newsweek, and moved on to become a reporter for the Detroit ...
Read more about Ellen Goodman.
Lipstick On A Rogue
Ellen Goodman
BOSTON -- You have to hand it to Sarah Palin. I don't mean you have to
hand her the 2012 nomination. Nor do you have to hand her the $24.64 I
overpaid for "Going Rogue."
But let us give credit where credit card is due. Remember back in the 1990s when Hillary Clinton described herself as the Rorschach test for how people felt about the women's movement? Palin has become the latest test for shifting common ground and fault lines between sisterhood and sibling rivalry.
It's been like this since the Palintologists discovered her in Alaska and put her on the national ticket of the Grand Old (Boy) Party. She brought in-your-face words to conservatism: "To any critics who say a woman can't think and work and carry a baby at the same time, I'd just like to escort that Neanderthal back to the cave."
The GOP had been hibernating in that cave for decades. But the moose-killing former governor and mother of five made it politically incorrect for the "family values" crowd to trash working moms. She created a demilitarized zone in the culture wars. Republican women could juggle a BlackBerry and a breast pump. They too could do it all!
At the same time, her appearance on the national ticket, after Clinton's defeat, challenged the Hillarylanders' comfy notion that voting for a woman was a feminist act in itself. Especially if the candidate was a pro-life conservative.
Now, we have the rogue elephant book tour, starring Sarah as she bashes McCainites and media. Her memory of the campaign fits a definition of political Alzheimer's: She's forgotten everything but the grudges.
Nevertheless, the Newsweek cover photo of the former vice presidential candidate in short-shorts -- originally taken for Runner's World -- is deliberately cheesy enough to make her most earnest opponent wince. Whoopi Goldberg, no Palin-ophile she, saw sexism in the photo op.
At the same time, even women who are profoundly tired of the fact that we have to be overqualified to win are turned off by a celebrity pol who still won't admit she was wildly underqualified.
The most authentic parts of the book are not those of a Palin as rogue but as a child and mother. And then there is a series of remarks straight from the Grrrl Power archives.
"I'm a product of Title IX," she writes. "I was a direct beneficiary of the equal rights effort. "
She gives a shout-out to Gerry Ferraro and a coffee date invitation to Hillary Clinton. Then she nods respectfully to the founding mothers: "Standing on the shoulders of women who had won hard-fought battles for things like equal pay and equal access, I grew up knowing I could be anything I wanted to be."
Whoa Nellie. Or rather, Whoa Sarah. There's such a thing as too much self-esteem. The idea that you can be anything you want to be does not mean that you were ready to be vice president because you "knew the history of the (Iraq) conflict to the extent that most Americans did." This inkblot got the message without the meaning.
Palin repeats the old movement quip that "there's no better training ground for politics than motherhood." It's one (funny) thing to compare politicians to squabbling kids. It's another (serious) thing to believe anyone can leap from child care to commander in chief. (Memo to the ex-governor: Real moms don't quit.)
Sarah the Barracuda took the baton from the women's movement, but didn't get the message about passing it on. At one point, she remembers thinking, "You know what I could really use? A wife." This was a cute line in the 1970s. But as a politician in this century she doesn't offer any policy to help working mothers who need more than "God and Todd."
"Going Rogue" is short on self-reflection and long on attitude, including blame. But the author is also the female face of the Republican Party. Liz Cheney goes so far as to say that "it would be nothing short of sexist to say that simply she is not a serious candidate."
More than half of Republicans think Palin is qualified to be president. Well, the book includes a transcript of a beauty contest back in the 1980s when Sarah the Barracuda was a contender. Asked whether she'd vote for a vice presidential or presidential candidate just because she was a woman, Palin answered, "No, I would not vote for someone just because they were a woman." Sarah's lesson. Pass it on.
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Ellen Goodman's e-mail address is ellengoodman1(at)me.com
Copyright 2009 Washington Post Writers Group
This news arrived on: 11/19/2009
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Posted Comments:
11-21-2009 15:44
JCE wrote:
I find it amazing that a RWET is bothered by anyone who fears the party of fearmongerers, that someone can recognize a fearmongerer, when it is the RWETs who are masters at inducing fear and panic, and stampeding people into a very bad and dangerous direction. Anyone in their right mind in afraid of the right wing extremist terrorists, their politicians, their propaganda, and that a chance that someone like Palin might control some important part of our government. Many of us up here are so grateful that she quit her commitment for money and fame, broke her promises, because Alaska couldn't afford for her to finish her term. It is sad that national politics, and the discussion between the parties has gotten to where it doesn't "matter to whether she was a good governor, a good mayor, a whistleblower on the Alaskan Oil and Gas Conservation Commission, or whether the ethics complaints filed against her in Alaska were bogus." Considering that many of us know that she wasn't a good mayor or governor, she really didn't blow any thing but her own horn, didn't stand up to anyone, didn't deliver on the change and reform she promised, and that her own party found that a number of the ethics complaints did have merit. It does matter to many of us, especially those most affected by the lack, that she didn't understand policy at all, and was woefully ignorant of issues that would be vital in office. Ignorant to the point of being dangerous. But, they do think she is cute. My neighbor has a cute puppy, but it is a good thing we can't run it for office.
11-21-2009 15:33
JCE wrote:
It just fascinates me how these milf lovers who don't know Palin, didn't experience her in any way as a mayor or governor, don't live in either Wasilla or Anchorage or Alaska, don't read our papers, in general, don't know anything about us or her, are such experts. Anyone who has watched MSNBC, and seen the dozens of clips showing her prove herself a liar, and incompetent, lacking in knowledge, policy understanding, or the necessary skills to handle any office, and is honest, would no longer defend her. It is exactly like if I, who have never been to New York, and wasn't there during 9/11, became an expert on 9/11, and came up with a lot of controversial stuff that half of the New Yorkers disagreed with. I think I know what happened to the acid takers of the 70s, the meth heads, and those into ecstasy. They are now looking for Palin/Beck 2012 bumper stickers. I will never understand why pot, alcohol, or reality isn't enough for these people.
11-21-2009 12:10
Joe wrote:
right on, rig
The handful of liberals writing columns for "On the Left" and on these comment boards know very little about Palin except that she is diametrically opposed to "Big Mother" government-that is, a government incessantly maternal, invasive, and patronizing; and that she ignites in them feelings of guilt and inadequacy.
In the final analysis, it doesn't matter to them whether she was a good governor, a good mayor, a whistleblower on the Alaskan Oil and Gas Conservation Commission, or whether the ethics complaints filed against her in Alaska were bogus. They won't argue whether she's right in her political values. Have you seen some of the commenters on these boards rip her for having hired a nanny? I cannot think of anything more innoccuous to find fault with Palin than that. It's an example of the irrational fear Palin incites in them.
In the final analysis, it doesn't matter to them whether she was a good governor, a good mayor, a whistleblower on the Alaskan Oil and Gas Conservation Commission, or whether the ethics complaints filed against her in Alaska were bogus. They won't argue whether she's right in her political values. Have you seen some of the commenters on these boards rip her for having hired a nanny? I cannot think of anything more innoccuous to find fault with Palin than that. It's an example of the irrational fear Palin incites in them.
11-21-2009 09:18
rig wrote:
Sarah Palin has more than enough to become president of the U.S. People who criticize Palin spend more time listening to the media than listening to Sarah Palin. She is a very strong conservative and knows what this country was founded on. Oh and by the way, she has much more executive experience than the dunce in the office now.
11-21-2009 02:30
old cowboy wrote:
JCE
Sorry I was typing my comment about her going home when your send came in. Maybe we can work something out so she and Cheney (I'm from Wyoming)can be sent somewhere they like. Do you think GitMo would work?
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