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There’s been a huge backlash against anyone who’s said anything against Sarah Palin’s personal life, the latest example of which was one of my local radio pundits giving out what I’ve always thought of as his nincompoop award to any media person who’s jumped on the story about Palin’s impending grandmotherhood or her youngest child, who has Down’s syndrome.
I feel the need to make a couple of points on this subject, but first I should explain that the first political event that made much of an impact on me was Watergate, and it was a pretty strong impact. So I pretty much feel about politicians the way Groucho Marx felt about anti-Semitic social organizations – I don’t particularly want in office anyone who would want to be there, pretty much by definition. Even Obama’s soaring rhetoric hasn’t changed my position on that one, although I am kind of worried that he’s a Carter-type president, too idealistic for his own good. I’m also worried about him getting assassinated before he gets a chance to accomplish anything, but that’s another post.
That said:
1) I don’t know how many people are conscious of the real reason (IMHO) so many people are jumping on Palin’s private life, but so far in all the hooha I haven’t heard anyone say anything about it. The point is, all the things she’s doing, personal and public, have been enabled by the very principles that she’s arguing against. Her conservative “values,” if they were the law of the land, would have prevented her from running for office, would have prevented her daughter from having the “choices” that she says she’s so proud of her for making. And so forth. And so on. She’s co-opted the privileges her opponents have fought long and hard to achieve and is using them to deny those privileges to other women. I believe that this is why people are leaping on her personal life. And I believe that this aspect of it is fair game. I just wish that people would get this out in the open instead of being afraid to say it out loud.
2) How many people are paying attention to the fact that Palin’s personal life is being used as a smokescreen to hide her miserable public record? As long as we continue to be diverted by Palin’s unwed pregnant daughter, not anywhere near enough attention is being paid to what really matters. And if that’s the case, it’s no one’s fault but our own. You don’t think the party bosses in St. Paul aren’t just chortling over this? Obama may be coming across as taking the unnecessarily high road on the subject, but he’s doing it for a reason. Even if he does sound like a voice in the wilderness about it.
Is it even possible for the Democratic Party to stay focused enough to deal with what’s going on here? Maybe even in a straightforward manner? I sure hope the hell so. But I’m not counting on it. Then again, counting on politics for anything is pretty much a hell in a handbasket scenario, so I guess I shouldn’t be surprised.
Oh, and if you're of the opposite persuasion and you're about to attempt to rebut everything I've said, don't waste your pixels. In case you hadn't noticed, this is a partisan post. There's nothing at this stage of the game that you could say (especially trying to argue against my point #1) that has any place on this blog whatsoever. If you feel the need to rebut this, get your own blog.
I feel the need to make a couple of points on this subject, but first I should explain that the first political event that made much of an impact on me was Watergate, and it was a pretty strong impact. So I pretty much feel about politicians the way Groucho Marx felt about anti-Semitic social organizations – I don’t particularly want in office anyone who would want to be there, pretty much by definition. Even Obama’s soaring rhetoric hasn’t changed my position on that one, although I am kind of worried that he’s a Carter-type president, too idealistic for his own good. I’m also worried about him getting assassinated before he gets a chance to accomplish anything, but that’s another post.
That said:
1) I don’t know how many people are conscious of the real reason (IMHO) so many people are jumping on Palin’s private life, but so far in all the hooha I haven’t heard anyone say anything about it. The point is, all the things she’s doing, personal and public, have been enabled by the very principles that she’s arguing against. Her conservative “values,” if they were the law of the land, would have prevented her from running for office, would have prevented her daughter from having the “choices” that she says she’s so proud of her for making. And so forth. And so on. She’s co-opted the privileges her opponents have fought long and hard to achieve and is using them to deny those privileges to other women. I believe that this is why people are leaping on her personal life. And I believe that this aspect of it is fair game. I just wish that people would get this out in the open instead of being afraid to say it out loud.
2) How many people are paying attention to the fact that Palin’s personal life is being used as a smokescreen to hide her miserable public record? As long as we continue to be diverted by Palin’s unwed pregnant daughter, not anywhere near enough attention is being paid to what really matters. And if that’s the case, it’s no one’s fault but our own. You don’t think the party bosses in St. Paul aren’t just chortling over this? Obama may be coming across as taking the unnecessarily high road on the subject, but he’s doing it for a reason. Even if he does sound like a voice in the wilderness about it.
Is it even possible for the Democratic Party to stay focused enough to deal with what’s going on here? Maybe even in a straightforward manner? I sure hope the hell so. But I’m not counting on it. Then again, counting on politics for anything is pretty much a hell in a handbasket scenario, so I guess I shouldn’t be surprised.
Oh, and if you're of the opposite persuasion and you're about to attempt to rebut everything I've said, don't waste your pixels. In case you hadn't noticed, this is a partisan post. There's nothing at this stage of the game that you could say (especially trying to argue against my point #1) that has any place on this blog whatsoever. If you feel the need to rebut this, get your own blog.
