The better Sarah Palin looks, the more ridiculous the attacks on her sound.
Hmmm... Should I have said "looks"? We'll see.
Right on the heels of McCain's announcement, the attacks started. First came the "inexperienced" meme. I've been listening and reading in search of a sound explanation why being a governor constitutes less experience than being a senator, because I think it's just the reverse. I try to understand, but I can't.
So for several days I have not been getting it. After seeing the meme flogged yet again in today's Detroit Free Press this morning it began to dawn on me that maybe I am not defining "experience" the same way as the people who believe it is their job to tell me what to think. I think there are three possibilities:
1. They're repeating and parroting "inexperienced" as a mantra simply because they've been told to repeat it (which means the definitions are irrelevant);
2. There is a different (and lower) standard for men running for president than for women running for vice president (which also means the definitions are irrelevant); or
3. They really define experience in a different manner than I do.
To be fair, I think that they might really think that "experience" means knowing the right people, and living in and knowing the ways of Washington. But that can't be right. Because, by that standard, a longtime journalist at the Washington Post or a policy wonk who's worked for years in a DC think tank has more "experience" than Sarah Palin -- something no reasonable person would contend.
It might be unreasonable, but it does seem to be the standard. Governor Palin referred to it this way in last night's speech:
I'm not a member of the permanent political establishment.
And I've learned quickly, these past few days, that if you're not a member in good standing of the Washington elite, then some in the media consider a candidate unqualified for that reason alone.
But here's a little news flash for all those reporters and commentators: I'm not going to Washington to seek their good opinion - I'm going to Washington to serve the people of this country. Americans expect us to go to Washington for the right reasons, and not just to mingle with the right people.
I think she's right. A major reason she's being called inexperienced is that the people calling her that don't know her. They're in their own world, and they get to define who is one of them and who isn't. You're either in or you're not, and if you're not, why, you're "inexperienced." This is traditional, of course. (Especially for those in the 7th grade.)
Which means some of her critics really think that when they call her inexperienced, they mean it sincerely. It's as if she's trying to join their club. Seen this way, the fact that Barack Obama went to Harvard (a major entry portal to the club, and where many club members come from) automatically makes him more experienced than Sarah Palin -- for the simple reason that she went to the University of Idaho.
This all may feed into another criticism -- that her personal "style" is wrong. If "experienced" means belonging to the club, then if you want to be experienced, you have to at least look like the members of the club. If you didn't attend Harvard, you must at least kowtow to the standards of their Kulture Klub -- which means you cannot wear your hair like this:
Yes, Republican vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin has a lot on her plate: a pregnant teen daughter, a son on his way to Iraq, an infant with Down syndrome and a looming national election.
But must her hair suffer? With her long, straight, often pinned-up locks, Palin looks one humid day away from fronting a Kiss cover band.
"It's about 20 years out of date," said Boston stylist Mario Russo of the Alaska governor's 'do. "Which goes to show how off she might be on current events."
Not only does it go to show how "off" she is on current events, it goes to show how "on" Mr. Russo is! I'll just bet Russo does a lot of the Harvard doos....
Mario Russo is located on lower Newbury Street and was voted 2008's "Best of Boston" hair salon. Mario opened his doors 20 years ago and has consistently maintained his reputation of being a trend setter for Boston's power crowd. Since then he and his highly trained staff have catered to Boston's sopisticated crowd by giving top of the line cuts, colors, skin treatments, skin care, manicures/pedicures, waxing, and bridal parties. The atmosphere is comfortable, high energy, and features modern art displayed throughout. Talk about the latest trends with friendly and professional staff while overlooking the most prestigious part of Newbury St.
Now that's experience! (But "sopisticated"? Isn't the correct spelling "sopissticated"?)
Glad we're talking about important issues and taking them seriously.
I'll have to contact Mr. Russo about the right shade of lipstick for Coco. She needs to get some "experience" as a hockey mom.
posted by Eric on 09.04.08 at 10:24 AM
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Comments
There are two groups of entitled in the USA...people who think they are owed something by everyone else because they are less fortunate, retired or ill and people who attended an Ivy League school.
One company I ran had a number of Ivy Leaguers. They were good at giving orders, analyzing and "looking good". By virtue of their pedigree, they considered themselves above the fray of the worker bees and superior to everyone else due to their "membership" in the club... While there were a couple who did manage to get their nails dirty, most of them were satisfied to rest on their laurels and look down at the people who actually did the work.
Senator Obama, you're in real trouble now!
Concerned Citizen · September 4, 2008 11:54 AM
Talk about out of touch--everyone with long hair who has ever held a baby knows her hair is up so it doesn't get yanked out of her head.
Her experience raising a family and running a business seems to fit the Founders' vision of citizens coming to Washington for a few years' service. Yeah, I know what the political media insider's club thinks of the Founders and their visions...
Spot on about the hair. I was going to post on this myself tonight, but I'll just link over here instead. Working in human services, the enormous majority of my coworkers are liberals. Woman after woman is mentioning Palin's hair, her earrings, and trying to paint her as jumped-up white trash. These "feminists" sound like an 8th-grade dance. Amazing and appalling. (Note to critics: I am not referring to the people I read. These are comments over the last two days from women I know personally are progressive to radical.)
It does relate to what they consider experience. No normal person would consider being an inside Washington journalist to be experience, as you said. But the other journalists would think so. They are measuring whether people know their way around town - whether they are part of the hive. (See also, my comments on the abortion post. Similar stuff happening)
They have decided that Sarah Palin is from another hive. It's just highschool all over again.
Heather, you're right and I think that's what Palin is tapping / will tap into. The founders of this nation intended for government to be run by citizen legislators--people who built a private life, left that private life to enter public service for a few years, and then left public service to return to private life.
Politics was never meant to be a career. George Washington didn't have to leave office after two terms, but he figured eight years was enough. Let someone else do it.
Palin gives the appearance of a citizen legislator--exactly what we need and have been lacking with the plastic men that run rampant in DC.
tim maguire · September 4, 2008 05:00 PM
"by that standard, a longtime journalist at the Washington Post or a policy wonk who's worked for years in a DC think tank has more "experience" than Sarah Palin -- something no reasonable person would contend"...there are now a lot of people who really do not understand the difference between thinking & writing about something, and actually *doing* something. The obsessive focus on educational credentials has greatly contributed to this cluelessness. So yes, I think there are probably a lot of newspaper writers ("politics" section) who think they would make great Presidents, and over in the business section, many writers who think they would make great corporate CEOs.
I think the quote desired is:
"Whatever women do, they must do twice as well as men to be half as good. Luckily, this is not difficult."
Charlotte Whitton
So true. When I was stationed in DC, I found it so much like the high school I loathed. A feeling confirmed when I read Bobo's in Paradise. Everybody running around with their college emblem on their car at 40. Worried about being seen in the right places, having the right CDs or knowing the right people. And I wasn't anywhere near the real political class just a lowly government employee with considerable experience "in the field." But none of that mattered as I had not run a program, even a minor one, in HQ. That I had run field units where an incorrect decision could have resulted in the death of my employees and others did not count toward management or leadership experience. Surreal world doesn't do the experience justice.
The phenomenon is not limited to DC for gov employees. These types are everywhere and to my opinion, especially among the liberals. They congregate in staff positions that have not actual responsibility for decisions.
The Anti-Idiotarian Rottweiler
Don?t bang your head!
There are two groups of entitled in the USA...people who think they are owed something by everyone else because they are less fortunate, retired or ill and people who attended an Ivy League school.
One company I ran had a number of Ivy Leaguers. They were good at giving orders, analyzing and "looking good". By virtue of their pedigree, they considered themselves above the fray of the worker bees and superior to everyone else due to their "membership" in the club... While there were a couple who did manage to get their nails dirty, most of them were satisfied to rest on their laurels and look down at the people who actually did the work.
Senator Obama, you're in real trouble now!