‘Katty, tell me they think Palin’s crazy.’
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Every now and again I get a call from a friend in Europe asking me to translate America. For much of the Bush administration, and in particular after his reelection in 2004, the question dripped disdain and even anger. “How could you even live there?” my husband’s Scottish relatives would moan, with that particular brand of barely disguised sanctimony only dour Scots are capable of. It was as if I was somehow personally responsible for the election of GW, the bombing of Afghan civilians, the invasion of Iraq and the atrocities of Abu Ghraib all in one neat package.
Those years of war induced anti-Americanism were the low point of my thirteen years here.
So in contrast, the question I got from home the other day, “Katty, tell me they think Palin’s crazy,” seems a relative breeze. Except it isn’t. Because I don’t know how to answer. Defending the right, even the need, of objective foreign journalists to live and work through the doctrine of preemptive action was frankly simple compared to explaining the puzzle that is the Palin effect.
Yes, clearly a lot of Americans I meet do indeed think the soon to be former Governor of Alaska is not only deranged but dangerous (see Al Franken on the subject.) But I live in Washington DC and have begun to wonder whether my political true north isn’t better found by assuming that on this subject the views of most people I meet are simply the diametric opposite of those in much of the rest of the country. How else can I account for her high approval ratings? And how else to make sense of moves which the political establishment assume amount to political suicide but her supporters tell me amount to political genius. In all my years here I have never encountered a figure more fascinating, more divisive and more indicative of this bi-polar country. It is not even so much that Palin is enigmatic (although I’m still waiting for someone to tell me what she really meant in that resignation ramble) it is the enigma she reveals in American society that is so hard to put my finger on.
It is testimony to the degree of international interest in Sarah Palin that I was asked last week by editors in London to do a 5 minute piece on her (an epic in TV terms) and the request had come before she even announced her resignation. During the course of interviews for the piece one thing friend and foe alike could agree on is that there is nothing traditional about this politician. She operates according to her own agenda often defying all political norms. Whether she can get to the White House without at some stage becoming a more conventional politician is a different question, but certainly this singularity makes both her and her impact even harder to read.
Was that speech in her back yard on Friday inspired in its break-out-of-the-Beltway unconventionality or was it the bizarre wild gamble it seemed? In other words, is she crazy, or are we?
So when that question came through from Britain, I was stumped. At the risk of sounding Clintonian, it depends of course on the definition of “they.” Which is where Europeans so often fall down in their understanding of this huge country. They simply assume there is one national response and that there is a united “they” to talk about. They are wrong, of course. But help me out, and I’ll send back a more coherent reply, do you think she’s crazy?
Katty
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I’ve been asked the same question many times, as a 20-year ex-pat journo from Canada, to explain many policies and behaviors here.
I think the answer, which I learned firsthand from traveling the country to report my 2004 book about women and guns, is that there are voters, and attitudes, very far from the Beltway or NYC (where most journos hang out and, frequently, share a point of view) whose values and role models seem to come from another country entirely. But they don’t. They come from this country, which I think is best understood as a nation of micro-nations.
The fact that Sarah Palin is not one of the Washington elite, who refuses to play by the rules, may bewilder many people across the pond — and within the U.S. But for everyone who thinks she’s nuts, there are those who admire her guts, her unvarnished family, her lifestyle and her politics. They, too, vote.
I liken Palin to a psychic. The people who want to believe in her will always find a reason to do so. They will call attention to the hits, and conveniently forget about the misses.
Why do they want to believe in her? I think many Republicans are searching for leadership, a new face of the party that will help the GOP turn the corner. She is a strong and visible personality who, at least in terms of appearance, represents a change from the “old white guys” that are seen as typical of the party.
Like a psychic, she sees an opportunity to meet people’s needs and to profit from them.
Here’s where I think a good journalistic team could do America (and the rest of the world) a great service by going out and interviewing a number of the people who think Palin is the greatest thing since George Washington. Then try to distill the essence of what makes people vote for or support an obviously delusional fruitcake. Ask Alaskans that voted for her as governor open ended questions like “Why do you like Palin?” and report back to the rest of us. Because we need to learn how bizarre people like Palin can get large numbers of people to vote for her.
It’s kinda laughable to read so many writers refer to “Palin’s 2012 chances” in a serious tone. The woman may indeed gain the GOP nomination, given that party’s loony-tunes current make-up (though I’d probably still bet against her getting the nod), but ain’t no way she is getting the White House, so stop frontin’. Yes, I realize we have a lot of uneducated hillbillies in this country, and I realize they vote, and I realize they just luuuuurve themselves some Sarah Palin. But the broader public sees this inarticulate, ignorant (and proud of it) woman and dismisses her – there is indeed a lot of truth to the claim that she sank McCain’s campaign. But what about George Bush, you might say? Yea, GWB was dim, but his pedigree gave him a semblance of respectability among the wider public. Palin, no matter how you cut it, is an ignoramus from the sticks.
I still think she’s crazy.
I think part of her appeal is the fact the she’s extremely attractive. She has a prom-queen quality that has allowed her to rise from local PTA star to local mayor to world stage and much of her confidence derives from that. There’s no doubt she’s gutsy and somewhat intelligent. Unfortunately, she has not put in the hours at the research desk and has very little knowledge of the world outside Alaska.
How anyone could consider her vice-presidential material is indicative of how much people consider politics as reality TV in this country. If she looked like Henry Kissinger, there’s no way we would be even talking about her today.
The reason people from the UK ask about Palin (or Bush or American football or whatever) is not that they want to learn anything about America it is that they want their own bigoted notions about the US confirmed so they can feel better about themselves. When they see someone that matches their stereotypes, like Palin, they grasp at her because it confirms their notion of superiority. Simply put they are bigots who are no different than some idiot who points to an article regarding a crime by a black person and says “see I was right about them.”
I do think it is funny that you and (Claire Shipmman) LOVE working class women in the abstract, but when you are faced with one in real life, and they are CONSERVATIVE you cannot hide your contempt. You Katty Kay are a snob. Here is a woman, like it or not, born into a working class background, who is self made. Won an election against a corrupt political machine. Where as you Katty Kay, were born into privilege, went to a prestigious university(be honest daddy helped you just like GW) ended up getting a Job in the BBC you were not qualified for because of a oxford buddy. Being a beautiful blonde doesn’t hurt. Where do you get off feeling superior? Any waitress who was handed the background you have would be doing very well right now.
Can you imaging what someone like Palin would have accomplished if she had your privileged background?
You don’t want to admit it but you feel Palin and her ilk are inferior to you and your inability to understand her appeal stems from an unwillingness to accept that you are one of the beltway bubble and you think people like her don’t belong in your country club. Her appeal is with people you would never associate with so you wouldn’t understand.