Hindsight is always fascinating and the post election commentary is like watching an autopsy from the gallery, horrific and bloody yet far enough away there is no smell or splatter. Thus, in the strange afterglow of Election 2008, I offer my own post-mortem and some reflections:
The Catalyst
The original selection of Sarah Palin for Vice President in September illustrated my worst-case scenario for public leadership. It was a…what were they thinking, can this be real, please turn the channel - kind of elucidating moment. Appalling and electrifying, her immediate behavior and the revelations to come would move me to action in a way I had not been motivated in years.
Simplistic Brutality
In retrospect, it was many things, it was all of her – really; her inarticulate speech, her scolding tone, her obvious hypocrisies and her willingness to embrace the “pit bull with lipstick” persona - it all stunned me. Her complete inability to generalize her own choices to the larger issues facing our country, however, was the final straw on the back of my complacency.
I broke.
The agonal concept I could not hold was her belief that killing an animal for sport, as a matter of policy, was acceptable. Having said that, it was not just the hunting that shocked me. I have always felt that if you stalk it, kill it, skin it and eat it, I cannot say too much – as I do essentially the same thing at the grocery store. Hypocrisy is not a currency I particularly like to trade in and as a carnivore, this is a glass house I know I live in. I do not see one as being very different from the other in terms of karma credits.
However, that our would-have-been vice president supported the aerial hunting of animals - I was stunned and it enraged me. Enraged me and moved me to action in a way I have not been in years. Kazam! I flew out of the recliner – up onto my feet. Launched forward as if an intruder had crashed through the front door and I had to respond to save the lives of my loved ones.
Her aerial hunting of wolves – for fun and profit – just sent me over the edge. In addition to the obvious cruelty-as-sport, the point was that she did not have the intellect or soul to see the connection between her own much-touted, beloved family dog and the wolves she would shoot at from an airplane. That, was beyond tolerable.
That deep kind of bifurcation of self scares the shit out of me. If she cannot internalize those simple connections, how could she make the difficult and subtle connections necessary to lead a nation? If… destroying the eco-system for money is unquestioned - chasing down animals until they are exhausted and shooting them is fun - helping middle-age trophy hunters artificially fulfill fantasies for a price is acceptable…how could she possibly have the soul of a leader.
She did not.
Isn’t one woman as good as another?
No, not at all…but at first we pretended there might be a choice. We kept looking for the substance – something to push against, agree or disagree with - some inner quality that would validate McCain’s choice even if we disagreed with it. But there was nothing.
Reporters kept asking the question “Who is the real Sarah Palin?” As CNN, MSNBC, CBS et al kept asking that question. I came further out of my body - thinking:
“What the hell are they talking about?”
She had no core - at all, was not sincere, witty, or even interesting. *Who* the real Sarah Palin was… just did not register as an authentic question. It was like trying to decide between…Barbie and Skipper. Which one is more real? They are essentially the same. And as a replacement for Hillary – uh, not just no, but - hell no!
This was arguably the most important decision our country would make and the question was not who she was - but why was she even a possibility? The real point was, the Republican Party was so out of touch with American women they thought we who had supported Hillary would accept this parody of a leader simply for lack of a Y chromosome.
The insult of that concept was and is unforgivable.
Sinking to the lowest common denominator
The difference between Sarah Pallin and Hillary Clinton was striking almost to the point of the absurd. It was not necessary for Gov. Palin to have a PhD or be a Lawyer - to be Vice President. But it was galling to the point of madness was she did not know - what she did not know! ... and she bluffed anyway, blundering ahead like there is no scandal in not bothering to survey the landscape for information that might be necessary.
What was happening here? Had our national mentality been so diminished that we were willing to accept this one-dimensional, nasally voiced, aggressive, would-be-beauty-queen, as an actual candidate for leader?
When did it become agreeable to offer the lowest common denominator as best pick? How can we be the brightest and the best if we keep picking leaders who are sub-marginal at best? When did it become acceptable for a leader to have no substance?
Eight years ago, I guess.
Lessons for her... and for us
It is hard to say what Sarah Palin will take from her experience. She is shrewd - if not intellectual, calculating - if not erudite, so in the end she will - like a virus, undoubtedly adapt and look for the next host to invade. Will it be the US Senate, Republican Party leadership or another presidential bid? Hard to say, but she does seem to land on her feet.
…And what of us? Will we go back to sleep; accept the near miss and slip back down our rabbit hole of denial? Some will and already have. Even at our house, I have to admit, CNN is not our constant companion anymore, but we are not asleep and have not disengaged. I do not plan to - ever again.
Part of the lesson to internalize is - our actions led the Republican Party to choose Sarah Palin in the first place. They read our behavior, sized us up and thought she was what we wanted or at least would accept. We have reinforced their beliefs with our apathy and silence for years – and that cannot happen, ever again.
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