Resignation Shows Alaska Governor Can’t Handle the Heat
By G.A. Afolabi
There is one thing you can say about Sarah Palin’s bumpy political career is that it is never uneventful. Palin recently announced her resignation in a breathy and hurried speech in which she quoted everyone from Gen. Douglas McArthur to a refrigerator magnet. Palin took particular pains to lambaste the mean-old, liberal media, who had the audacity to actually investigate her past. If Sen. John McCain had done a better job of investigating her past, he might have won the presidency.
In spite of her scandals, and lack of intellectual depth, many Republicans saw Sarah Palin as the great white hope, who was going to rescue the nation from the evil clutches of the Communist, Muslim, Anti-Christ called Barack Obama. Towards the end of the McCain-Palin administration, the tail was literally wagging the dog and it was clear that Palin’s star power was outshining McCain.
Palin had the audacity to ask McCain if she could give a concession speech, after the wheels finally came off their rickety campaign – even though a vice presidential candidate has never given a concession speech. The fact that Palin was still seen as a serious candidate, after literally sinking the McCain candidacy, didn’t seem to deter Conservatives. Maybe they saw Palin as a cipher, who was so dazzled at the idea of being a national celebrity, that she could be lead around by the nose, while the real GOP bosses created policy. Maybe they saw her as a fall gal, who could take the blame if the country collapsed under another disastrous Republican presidency. I think a lot of Republicans were thinking with their dicks. If Palin looked like Rosie O’Donnell, I am sure they would not have been as enthusiastic about her.
As we all know, Palin proved to the final lead balloon that sunk the McCain presidency. Unfortunately, she didn’t quietly return to her artic homeland. Faced with a collection of less than stellar GOP presidential candidates, Palin stood out. It also appeared that she enjoyed the national spotlight, the multiple TV interviews and the adoring crowds. (What were those people smoking?)
But Palin’s brief moment in the national spotlight has only highlighted her flaws. One of the strong points of the McCain campaign, was the senator’s experience in the Navy, and both the House of Representatives and the Senate. But then he appointed a novice, whose record reads, served as mayor of a town of less than 5,000 people, and less than one term as governor of one of the smallest states in the union.
Candidate Palin has several other problems:
- She is an outsider, and that works against her. As much as the GOP has tried to paint itself as the party of Joe Sixpack, it is still dominated by wealthy, white men and their interests. The Republican Party has always been geared towards Country Club types, and it still is. However several years ago, they figured out that by blending racism, religion and homophobia into their message, they could appeal to the middle class and blue-collar people, their policies were screwing over. Palin came from that stock, and falsely believed her religious views and conservative social leanings, could get her into the country club. However the backlash from unnamed McCain campaign sources, shows that the GOP still see her as the poor girl from the wrong side of the tracks. Mitt Romney, for all of his strange religious views, is more welcome than the Evangelical Palin. After all he is man, and he is old money, unlike the self-styled blue-collar Palins. Even George W. Bush for all of his Cowboy bluster, was a third-generation blue blood.
- Palin is shallow, and it shows. It is still a mystery why the McCain campaign selected her for the second most powerful job in the world. Political pundits claim Palin’s selection was an attempt to look more attractive to the conservative wing of the GOP – the one’s who think dinosaurs were on Noah’s Ark and Global Warming is a myth. Her academic background is far from stellar and she had not shown great business or political acumen before she was tapped to join the McCain campaign. Her disastrous appearances in softball interviews with Katie Couric and Charles Gibson reinforced her lack of knowledge. If she couldn’t handle simply questions like what newspapers does she read, how would she handle hard-hitting interviews from veteran reporters with media organizations like “60 Minutes” and “The Washington Post?”
- Palin has more skeletons in her closet than a morgue. One wonders if the McCain campaign vetted her at all? Isn’t the whole process of vetting supposed to mean going through a candidate’s past with a fine-tooth comb to find any potential scandals? But with Palin, the scandals came so thick and fast you could barely keep up with them. There was the baby incident, the pregnant teenage daughter, the on-going feud with her common-law in laws, the state trooper firing and several ethics charges.
But most troubling of all is Palin’s demeanor and emotional state. Women candidate
have it hard anyway. If they act tough, they are too manly, or accused of being lesbians, and if they show their feminine side, they are accused of being too emotional. Palin has failed on both levels, but her erratic behavior and whiny nature plays into the stereotype of women being unfit for leadership.
I have worked for a government organization headed by a woman, and one thing that I gathered about male legislators, is they hate to hear whining. Whining is that most un-male of qualities. Most men’s attitude is “I got problems, and I don’t want to hear about yours.” Palin needs to realize that if you want to play with the big boys, you got to learn to take your lumps. However, she complained about the media, GOP operatives, the Washington establishment, and anyone else who dared to ask critical questions.
Get over it Sarah. Politics is a bruising, down and dirty business. Learn to deal with it, or stick to the lecture circuit. You are not the first political candidate to be grilled by the media, lampooned, or put under the microscope. Barack Obama was called everything from a Satanist to a homosexual. He had a record number of death threats and his friends, family and wife were all put through the wringer. The press was particularly brutal to Bill Clinton, and, when the media finally regained their balls, they also went after George W. Bush. Complaining about the media, is like trying to put out a fire with gasoline. The more you complain, the more ammunition you give them.
If you can’t deal with a few months of campaigning, how are you going to deal with
four years in the White House? Maybe Palin did us all a favor by resigning and showing her true colors. We’ve seen her resume and audition tape, no it’s up to us to decide whether we give her the job.
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