Well, I don’t really know Sarah Palin personally, although, I have been to Alaska twice.
But over the course of my life, I’ve met plenty of Sarah Palins. I bet you have, too.
When I see Palin, I see the flirty high school cheerleader who had no interest in publishing or photography, but was compelled to beat out everyone else for editor-in-chief of the yearbook, so she cozies up to the adviser.
She reminds me of the girl who got grades and test scores good enough to get into college or grad school, but once there, instead of just putting her nose to the grindstone, used head fakes and games to convince others they didn’t have to work so hard, thus changing the shape of the bell curve.
Palin makes me think of the one summer intern who, instead of going along to get along, ensured her queen bee status with whisper campaigns, always sure that no matter what tactic she used to get ahead, her cuteness and perkiness would carry the day, leaving those less savvy and prone to relying on their actual talent in her wake. The one who was just nice enough and just smart enough, that few would ever suspect her true motives.
The uber-Tracy Flick.
Sarah Palin is that girl. Nicolle Wallace of the McCain campaign says Palin is just misunderstood and that we’re intimidated by her when we’re critical of whether she has the necessary experience and gravitas to handle being Vice President:
“My personal theory is that she’s something that [women in cable news] can’t grasp. … They don’t know how to process her. She is beautiful, accomplished, successful, pro-gun and pro-life. They’ve never seen all those things in one package. She totally disorients many in the liberal media, especially a lot of the women.”
I hate to break it to the McCain campaign, but I’m not disoriented by her at all. Palin’s winking and so-called “folksy” manner don’t fool me or many others I know. We’ve seen her type all to often in our lives and we know exactly who she is.
Sarah Palin isn’t stupid or incompetent, she’s just someone who has decided that there’s no reason to know too much about sophisticated economic policy, international power dynamics or how past so often becomes prologue, by golly.
Palin isn’t misunderstood. We understand her ways perfectly.
October 8th, 2008 at 3:27 pm
thank you so much for putting into words the way I feel about her, and WHY. Yeah-I know women like that. They are the ones cheering on the sidelines while the worker bees drop like flies around her. If I have to see her wink one more time I am going to totally lose it.
October 8th, 2008 at 3:34 pm
You betcha! This awesome!
We’re gonna say what would a maverick do and then yeah well we’re gonna to herefore and that do to it!
October 8th, 2008 at 3:40 pm
Doggone it, you betcha you beat me to the punch on this one. Yup, we’ve all had our share of experiences with That Girl.
October 8th, 2008 at 5:13 pm
I do not want to get to know any more about her at all.
October 8th, 2008 at 5:23 pm
You’ve said something that really needed to be said, and said it well.
I think a lot of women have this instinctive sense of Palin as a “Heather,” a popular, pleasant-seeming, two-faced agent of discord.
Thanks!
October 8th, 2008 at 5:33 pm
I have said this and said this to so many people! Those girls who were all ambition, with flashy talent, absent intellectual curiosity – filling National Honor Society by taking no honors classes… with nothing nice to say about most when one-on-one.
October 8th, 2008 at 7:44 pm
I don’t want a folksy, friendly vice president. I don’t want a president who is “my friend.” I want an intelligent president with a sense of decorum. Who would’ve thought I’d be so old fashioned?
October 8th, 2008 at 7:46 pm
Thank you for this post. Intimidated? Certainly not. If anyone is going to intimidate me (and that’s hard to do), it’s going to be a TRULY accomplished woman, like Condi Rice or Hillary Clinton.
No one’s saying that Palin isn’t smart. They’re just saying she isn’t anything special. And she isn’t. I can walk down my street and show you 15 women just like her.
October 8th, 2008 at 8:48 pm
OMG, Tracy Flick!!! You are brilliant, Pundit Mom. I knew SP reminded me of someone, but I couldn’t put my finger on it…
*Election* should be required viewing for undecided voters!
October 8th, 2008 at 10:32 pm
OH MY GOD YOU ARE SO RIGHT! Tracy Flick! HAAHAHAHAHHA!
October 9th, 2008 at 7:08 am
I have to say, I disagree with everyone, and that’s okay. We are all entitled to our opinions, but I would like to add (to Professor) that if you want a President with a sense of decorum, I find it interesting that you would be such an Obama supporter. I say this because it was Obama who couldn’t remember Senator McCain’s name in the first debate (calling him Tim, and Jim ), and Senator Obama who has also said things like, “…that’s cool, that’s cool…” and “…that’s a game-changer…”.
October 9th, 2008 at 10:09 am
Decorum, Mel? Interesting you should bring that up considering that it was McCain who didn’t correct the woman who asked him how to “beat the bitch” (referring to Hillary Clinton) by stating that his opponent deserved respect. He also made a joke about rape, and felt it was appropriate to make jokes about Chelsea Clinton’s parentage. Let’s also talk about the lack of “decorum” when no one – McCain, Palin, or anyone on their staff – has the decency to call for the bigoted idiots at their rallies to STOP yelling digusting remarks like “Kill him” in response to the mention of Obama’s name.
SO, yeah…I’m OK with a president who says “That’s cool.” Besides, it a full sentence in English…which is a huge step up from Bush.
October 9th, 2008 at 12:30 pm
Didn’t I read somewhere that Sarah Palin got her nickname of Barracude because she was one of those mean, catty bitches and because of “her unbridled ambition and predatory ruthlessness”(from a blogger in wasilla). I also like to consider myself a well-educated, well-traveled woman, well versed in world events, politics, etc, just like a lot of women today. We are not threatened by Palin, nor do we misunderstand her. She appears to be, as you say, just as she is :blindly ambitious with no interest at all in national, world, political or cultural events or issues that either don’t immediately concern her, effect her or her ambitions, or contradict her religious beliefs. I am simply terrified of this type of person who wants to run my country.
October 9th, 2008 at 12:49 pm
ethnocentric, small-world but not dumb.
October 9th, 2008 at 1:08 pm
You have so nailed it.
While there is much about Palin that most women can relate to in one way or other, in the end she is the girl in school who dictated to the rest of us where we should be on the hierarchy that she manipulated through her perky cutesy games.
The trouble for women like her is that playing field levels over and over again as we age, so that at some point – you have to know something in order to get ahead or maintain. Women like Sarah, never quite figure that out.
We don’t dislike her because we don’t “get her”: we dislike her because we “get it” all too well.
October 9th, 2008 at 2:31 pm
It’s seventh grade all over again – Tina F’s bit with the flute sealed it for me. Don’t know whether to laugh or cry . . .
October 9th, 2008 at 5:45 pm
Hm, looks like PM’s been lifting material off of other writers. The Tracy Flick comparison was from *last* month’s talking points. You’re way too late on this one.
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2008/9/4/85041/58547/772/586039
October 9th, 2008 at 7:25 pm
Teri, I’m so glad you have so much time to spend on all the sites. If only I had as much time as you to make the rounds and read everything. Oh well, I’ll leave that to you!
October 9th, 2008 at 8:38 pm
My pleasure. I know you prize honesty, as evidenced by your previous Palin posts, so I wanted to be sure you knew that you’re a bit late on this one; it’s *so* once month ago. Just trying to keep with your junior high mindset.
October 9th, 2008 at 8:55 pm
Teri, Teri, Teri. You are so amusing. FYI … from now on, further personal attacks from you will be deleted. Reasoned opposition is more than welcome.