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Please, keep underestimating Sarah By Michael C. Guilmette Jr. Originally published on Feb. 11, 2010, in the Connersville News-Examiner. I will make no bones about it. I want Sarah Palin to be our next President of the United States.
Palin’s conservative values are becoming more and more attractive outside her usual supporters as she has been able to contrast her views against an increasingly radical, socialist, neo-Marxist — and now failing — agenda thrust upon the American people some 13 months ago. Personally, it isn’t simply her policies that garner my support, although her proposals certainly deserve a chance. Given her roots, I feel a certain sense of kinship with her because she did not grow up with a silver spoon in her mouth and did not attend the proper elite schools. In her book, “Going Rogue,” Palin spent the first chunk of the pages detailing her childhood in rural Alaska. After reading it for a while, however, I kept forgetting she wasn’t talking about the rural Upper Peninsula of Michigan. Her accounts of bitter cold temperatures, rugged surroundings and isolation from the rest of the country rang very familiar — although she “stacked” firewood whereas we “piled” wood. As a journalist, I was heartened to know Palin entered into professional life as a sports reporter — at a time when a female sports reporter was a sacrilege. Having put pen to steno herself, her criticism of the news media is drawn from a background in a sometimes questionable profession. Her down-home manner of speaking rejects the nuanced inside-the-Beltway words common among politicians. “We have a vision for the future of our country, too,” Palin said Saturday night, “and it is a vision anchored in time-tested truths, that the government that governs least governs best — and that the Constitution provides the best road map towards a more perfect union.” She said these words and more last weekend during the Tea Party Convention in Nashville, Tenn., giving a powerful treatise on the virtues of limited government and the greatness of America. However, her detractors wasted no time criticizing her for some very petty reasons. For her speech, Palin jotted down a few words on the palm of her hand as quick notes for her topics. Immediately, left-wing bloggers and media pundits jumped on her for this — not a surprise — and the criticism appeared at some very high levels. On Tuesday, White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs — the mouthpiece of the Obama administration — took the opportunity to mock Palin by writing ‘hope’ and ‘change’ on the palm of his hand. Very becoming actions for a high level political spokesman whose boss cannot speak in public without the extensive use of a teleprompter. But the pile on continued as major news outlets bashed her in thinly veiled man-on-the-street interviews — again, not a surprise. During the 2008 campaign, pundits routinely disparaged Palin, making some of the most outlandish claims against her, such as implying her youngest son, Trig, is actually her daughter’s son, by promoting the flimsy notion her husband is tied to radical Alaskan independence groups or even by deriding her for saying she could see Russia from her backyard. In a time when some Americans believe Alaska is an island in the Pacific Ocean near Mexico and not 60 miles from Siberia, this doesn’t surprise me either. The harsh words come not only from the left, but also from some Republicans. Meghan McCain, the daughter of Palin’s former running mate, attacked Palin and the Tea Party movement while appearing on ABC’s “The View” on Monday for what she called harsh, divisive rhetoric. “This rhetoric will continue to turn off young voters, and anybody that says different is smoking something — period,” she said. The words ‘sore loser’ come to mind. Palin, however, takes the bashing in stride. “I think it probably drives some of the elitist crazy that I don’t get angry about it. I get a kick out of it when they say that I am too simple minded and too plain spoken,” Palin said Saturday. In her plain spoken manner, she invoked President Ronald Reagan in describing her plan for foreign policy. “It’s easy to just kind of sum it up by repeating Ronald Reagan ... bottom line, ‘We win, they lose,’” Palin said. “We do all that we can to win.” Reagan was regularly characterized as a buffoon while standing up to and challenging a Soviet Union bent on diminishing the United States while spreading a dictatorial philosophy throughout the world. Now, Palin and people like her recognize the threats that global terrorism and resurgent militarism represent to American — threats the current administration does not adequately recognize. Thus far, Palin has mainly concentrated on speaking engagements and promoting her book. She has not even hinted at the possibility of throwing her hat in the ring in 2012 to challenge — and likely defeat — Obama. But the groundswell of support is out there, and Palin cannot go anywhere without hearing “Run Sarah, Run!” She represents the change in course many Americans now want for the country, much like the change in course Reagan provided when he took office. Time will tell whether or not Palin will represent the second coming of Ronald Reagan, but I can say one thing for certain — she would certainly be better than what we have now. • Guilmette is managing editor of the News-Examiner. He may be contacted at mguilmette@newsexaminer.com. |
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Copyright © 2010, Michael C. Guilmette Jr. |
The former governor of Alaska and the 2008 GOP vice presidential candidate is quickly becoming the rising star in conservative circles, ever since she single-handedly prevented John McCain’s presidential campaign from committing an outright forfeit against the charismatic Barack Obama.
