Palin’s Progress
August 31, 2008 2 Comments
If Sarah Palin is all she seems to be and doesn’t have any skeletons in her closet, she fits the bill for what I want in a public servant.
What seems best about her is that her values, her sense of responsibility to her family, and her commitment to her convictions– rather than some driving ambition for lust and power– have brought her to this place, standing next to John McCain as the candidate for Vice President of the United States.
Her progress from PTA to city council to mayor to governor indicates to me that her “political ambitions” are about digging her heels in, seeing what can be achieved and changed, and digging her heels in again only to realize how much more could be accomplished in a higher governmental position— and taking the next step necessary for that to happen.
To me Palin’s disingenuously simple story indicates good character. To me, it is also a plus she is a woman. She seems to have at least one conviction, her commitment to life, that belongs to the realm of women and specifically motherhood.
Call me crazy, but in general I find myself uneasy with many female officials who seem to have rejected or jettisoned the traditional role of motherhood –or at least nurturing– in order to compete in a man’s world, where they acquire some of the least attractive qualities of men and often seem at odds with themselves. In other words, many women entering politics seem to abandon an innate, deeply significant, and irreplaceable part of who they are. Unlike them, Palin seems to have come into the arena in a quite natural and understandable progression BECAUSE she is a woman. Unlike the average woman in public office, Palin’s participation does not seem to be in conflict with her gender. How refreshing!
It will take some time to get to know who Sarah Palin is and to check into her record and see if it holds up under scrutiny. But for now I am extremely optimistic about her character and what she will be able to accomplish.For example, wouldn’t it be wonderful if Palin could provide the inspiration whereby some day the adjective “pro-life” becomes unnecessary to describe the noun “woman”?
Meanwhile it is just so much fun to see the bummed-out look on Obama’s face and watch the MSNBC “journalists” squirming and choking over what to say… In a couple of descriptions of Palin, the first words out of their mouths were “Lifetime member of the NRA.”
HORRORS!
What is this world coming to?
(And no degree from Harvard either!)
