Sorry to say I cannot agree with you on Sarah Palin, although I am all for the advancement of women in politics and business. I am an educated woman and a working mom and my opinion of Sarah is not based on "all things uterine" as you put it, but on "all things human" - truth, honesty, an open heart, an open mind, tolerance, acceptance, and forgiveness. I have been a lobbyist at the state level and I can empathize with Sarah's position. She is being used by the Republican Party to try to "win" the election. What I object to is the campain, and Sarah, using the slogan "Country First" when they are actually putting "Winning First" and at any cost to the county. Sarah has a choice. And like John McCain she has chosen to carry the party line, regardless of her personal values. Respecting Sarah because she is willing to put her job before her family sound pretty old school; the type of respect that male dominated business environments have tried to sell to working women since they entered the workforce. Women have worked hard to educate the business community on the value of putting family first and work second. The value of supporting each other at home, the value to society in doing your best at the difficult job of raising a child to be a decent contributing adult. Sarah is eroding that work. Sarah is a bully. I have met many women like her who have fought their way into power by ridiculing and intimidating anyone who disagrees with them, and surrounding themselves with "friends" with brown noses. I don't respect men who bully their way into power either. I would like to see a genderless condemnation of this approach. Intimidation and fear are harmful to our future.
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Confessions of a Secret Sarah Admirer
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But I can't help myself. I'd rather crack open a Red Bull and sit down with her than with Barack Obama. Likability counts in electoral politics—especially for voters who are on the fence. It worked for George W. I love the fact that she rose from the PTA to the governor's office as a self-described challenger to the boys' club. When I Googled "Palin and bitch," I expected to find an outpouring of misogyny to back up the idea that much of the criticism of her is sexist. Instead, I found dozens of references to a video called "Is McCain Palin's Bitch?" Her convention speech was ruthless, and she managed to beat Obama up without sounding shrill.
Maybe I am a sucker for a frontier myth, the narrative of a person who rises up in a frozen, faraway place by making her own rules. I don't meet many moose hunters in New York. She reminds me of the scrappy, snowmobile-riding people I knew when I was growing up in Minnesota. Palin even sounds like them, with her healthy respect for vowels. I love that her sister runs a service station. When I hear people say that she's "too state fair," it activates a vestigial chip on my shoulder. In the Ivy-choked, East Coast media establishment, I also have an unusual résumé: University of Minnesota, the five- year plan.
Then there are those guns. She has been likened to Annie Oakley, but she seems like a thoroughly modern ass-kicker, more Angelina Jolie as "Mrs. Smith," or Linda Hamilton as Sarah Connor—just with a little more meat on her bones. Even the investigation into her alleged abuse of power as governor seems to raise her street cred. I mean, didn't her ex-brother-in-law Taser his 10-year-old stepson? Somehow I'm willing to forgive Palin for allegedly trying to have him fired. I think she may represent a new American archetype: the political bad girl. History books are full of charming rogues like Bill Clinton, Edwin Edwards and Huey Long—men who were so charismatic that audiences seemed to forgive them their trespasses.
But if I'm really honest with myself, I'm mostly just happy that there's another woman on the national political stage. I think it's good for my 8-year-old daughter, who has called Hillary Clinton her idol. She doesn't love Hillary because of her health-care policy or pro-choice stance: she loves Hillary because she thinks girls rule. The more powerful women there are on the national stage, the better it is for all women, because this is a game of numbers. When John Edwards destroys his political career by cheating on his wife, I don't believe people wring their hands about what it's going to mean for white guys. And when there are enough women in our political life, maybe we will be able to judge them as individuals, rather than representatives of all things uterine. Either way, I think we're going to have to get used to Sarah Palin. Because she might be the one to crash through that "highest, hardest glass ceiling," and not just because she has a gun.
© 2008
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