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Richard Cohen's columns have appeared on the op-ed page of The Washington Post since 1984. He joined The Post in 1968 after attending the Columbia ...
Read more about Richard Cohen.
Richard Cohen's columns have appeared on the op-ed page of The Washington Post since 1984. He joined The Post in 1968 after attending the Columbia ...
Read more about Richard Cohen.
Sarah Palin: A Case Study
Richard Cohen
I saw the other day that George W. Bush is raising money for his
proposed policy institute at Southern Methodist University. I did some
research and found out that there are something like 3,000 policy
institutes, most of them hosting convocations about nothing much and
issuing papers no one reads. I suggest therefore that Bush use his
money to do something truly different and constructive -- establish
the Institute for the Study of Sarah Palin. My check is in the mail.
This is Palin Week -- days of interviews relating to the publication of her book, "Going Rogue." She will appear virtually everywhere, making her usual good impression, and there will be more talk about how she might run for president. Someone will point out that she is even scheduled to soon go to Iowa -- and you know what that means.
On the other hand, someone else will point out that the very week Palin is promoting her book, the current president is abroad attending meetings in Asia, including a visit with our Chinese bankers. Could those who fault Barack Obama for being callow and inexperienced imagine Palin meeting with the Chinese or, for that matter, conducting a protracted policy review about Afghanistan? As for Pakistan, South Korea, North Korea, the Middle East and, of course, the perplexing Georgian-Abkhazian conflict -- I don't think she is quite up to it all, some of those nations not being close to Alaska at all.
This being the case, the Institute for the Study of Sarah Palin should look into how she was chosen by John McCain as his vice presidential running mate -- and why McCain, given absolute proof of abominable judgment and the sort of sorry political opportunism he built a career decrying, has not repaired to a monastery and taken a vow of absolute silence since almost anything he has to say post-Palin has to be judged by his choice of her.
A further area of study ought to deal with the mindset of McCain's former campaign aides who continue to criticize Palin for not turning out to be the mute puppet they had so hoped she would be. That she went rogue I have no doubt -- but this was only after they went stupid and helped pick her in the first place. They live in political ignominy for not resigning from the campaign when it counted.
The Institute for the Study of Sarah Palin might conclude that she represents the exact moment important Republicans gave up on democracy. She was clearly seen as an empty vessel who could be controlled by her intellectual betters. These include the editorial boards of The Weekly Standard and The Wall Street Journal, neither one of which would hire Palin to make an editorial judgment but would be thrilled to see her as president of the United States. It does not bother these people in the least that the woman is a demagogue -- remember "death panels"? -- and not, on the face of it, very responsible. If she quit as governor of Alaska in the noble pursuit of money, might she quit as, say, vice president or president for the same reason? From what I hear, one can never be too rich.
I suppose, too, that the Institute for the Study of Sarah Palin would issue oodles of papers on our celebrity age and how she, after all, is just another one. Like most celebrities, she is a vehicle for the sale of something: a book, a magazine, a TV program or a diet regime. This is essential, for we are a vast country without much industry and so we rely on the production of fame, which is what we now do best -- cars and steel and 20 Mule Team Borax being a distant memory.
Finally, the Institute for the Study of Sarah Palin will mull what she represents. She has a phenomenal favorability rating among Republicans -- 76 percent -- who have a quite irrational belief that she would not make such a bad president. What they mean is that she will act out their resentments -- take an ax to the people and institutions they hate. The Palin Movement is fueled by high-octane vile and it is worth watching and studying for these reasons alone.
It may be asking too much of Bush to put his money into something useful instead of the standard presidential monument of self-aggrandizement. This, though, is his chance: Study Sarah Palin. If she's a comer, then we're all a goner.
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Richard Cohen's e-mail address is cohenr@washpost.com
Copyright 2009 Washington Post Writers Group
This news arrived on: 11/17/2009
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Posted Comments:
11-21-2009 02:23
JCE wrote:
Have any of her worshipers actually read the fact checking of her book? Or watched the clips where she tells one lie, and then later, another one that contradicts the fist lie? The best witness to her being a liar, and not having any policies or ideas of her own, is Palin herself. All you have to do is repeat what she herself says. Usually when someone has no real credibility, and says one thing, and dozens of other people say the opposite, and that she is wrong, usually the dozen are the right one. I am amazed at how wrong the worshipers are. Of course, I am in a good place to know the truth.
11-20-2009 13:50
Joe wrote:
examples of REAL political opportunism
When Mike Nifong purused the Duke Lacrosse rape case to pander to the black vote in his district.
When Michael Moore and colleagues on the Far Left used Hurricane Gustav as a cudgel against Republicans during the Republican National Convention.
When Michael Moore and colleagues on the Far Left used Hurricane Gustav as a cudgel against Republicans during the Republican National Convention.
11-20-2009 12:51
Joe wrote:
response to WCM
Care to give an example of how Sarah Palin has used her son in a sorry, politically opportunistic way as this creep Cohen claims? I gave the example that Sarah Palin carrying her fifth child to term was not "sorry political opportunism." If you want to claim that pursuing higher office is "sorry, political opportunism," I will concede if you will concede that every politician who seeks higher office is a "sorry, political opportunist."
In answer to your by the way, I say, Are you serious? Why don't you look at her record and what she had said for clues as to what she believes.
In answer to your by the way, I say, Are you serious? Why don't you look at her record and what she had said for clues as to what she believes.
11-20-2009 02:45
old cowboy wrote:
Ms. Palen
Right on WCM. She has flooded the networks with her book selling blitz and from what I have seen she is even more of what we used to call a "ditz" than she was when running for office. I guess they now call them air heads but whatever--she fits the bill and it is interesting that Fox "News" is fawning over her like she was a dog in heat. In this case I am not just thinking of Hannity and O'reilly but what they call the fair and balanced news broadcasts.
11-20-2009 00:57
WCM wrote:
Joe
I know two great mothers who carried and delivered a child with Down Syndrome.They have never used their sons in an opportunistic way.They have received help from professionals on how to best help their sons develop.But, they and their husbands have primarily raised their sons.They didn't pay someone else to deal with them.By the way, just what does she really believe in?
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