A Palin view from an Alaskan

Suddenly, this race just became interesting.

I'd say that choosing Palin is a stroke of pure political genius; hands down.

Which is why I am so surprised to see it from the McCain campaign. It's the first and only really smart thing I can remember them doing.

This selection of Marge from Fargo along with all her culture-wars baggage is nothing but a renewed declaration of cultural war from the Mccain people.

I can't emphasize enough how disappointed I am by this... I thought we had all at least agreed that while Rome is burning, playing around with "culture wars" is not something Rome can afford.

I became a devoted democrat because BushAndCo made it clear to me that I, as an educated new yorker and professional (IT) was not only not a member of that hallowed group of "real americans" but was actually the hated enemy. Palin "real american out fishing with other real americans" is a continuation of this.

If you conservatives really want to make enemies of the educated urban class, if you want to keep pretending that America is a white straight christian country... well, good look not getting steam-rolled by China. Us educated urban heathens... we're mobile, we know multiple languages, we have skills that are in demand all over the world, don't you worry about us we won't go down with the ship. But all you patriotic "real americans" have fun doing that.

If you conservatives really want to make enemies of the educated urban class,

To paraphrase a salty colleague of mine from years past: "If you hate, I love it."

If Sarah Palin alienates the "educated urban class", that works for me.

I'm chuckling, ruefully, at the notion that the VP will have anything more than diddly squat to do with setting and implementing policy. Cheney was an aberration, and one we needed if only to rub our faces in the all too possible tyranny in our highest offices. Cheney was only the most recent -- and, from my POV, most egregious -- example of that.

I didn't choose to write "tyranny" lightly or with intended sarcasm, by the way. History provides examples from both sides of the aisle.

The key to any administration is the quality of appointments. With whom the next president chooses to surround himself is much more important than his choice for VP.

Of course, possible cabinet choices is not a high-profile issue during the campaign. More's the pity.

Mike F.: If you conservatives really want to make enemies of the educated urban class, ...
Mike, who made enemies of who? People like you have been treating us uneducated rural types as enemies for a very long time.

Mike, are you using "Marge from Fargo" as an insult? I thought that she was magnificent. Wasn't her character meant to show the pragmatic intelligence of (at least some) people in "flyover country," mixed with common decency?

Marge Gunderson: "So that was Mrs. Lundegaard on the floor in there. And I guess that was your accomplice in the wood chipper. And those three people in Brainerd. And for what? For a little bit of money. There's more to life than a little money, you know. Don'tcha know that? And here ya are, and it's a beautiful day. Well. I just don't understand it. "

The reader from Alaska was very informative. Thanks for the post.

Having said that, let's be realistic. This was both a) a purely identitarian electoral move by McCain, who was also considering Meg Whitman and Carly Fiorina for veep, and b) a shot at introducing a new, reform minded, independent Republican into the national political cycle.

I'm sure McCain knows that the deck is stacked against him. This may indeed by his last political hurrah, if he loses - which I think is still highly likely. I would not put it past McCain that he made this pick out of sheer personal will. I'd bet his advisers would have rather had a Pawlenty. The GOP base probably would have rather had Romney or Huckabee. McCain probably would have met the Democrats half-way and picked Lieberman if he could have. In the end, he was forced to look for someone who (deep down inside) embraces the same political goals as he does: reform, ethics, anti-corruption, sound energy policy, etc...

I think he made a great choice. Am I confident she could lead as President if he were to not see the end of his term? Not really. Am I confident anyone, especially Obama, can lead as President? Not really. She'll make it exciting though.

I'm another Richard who's an Alaskan, more or less (born in Anchorage, raised in Seattle, and currently lives in Indiana, but don't confuse me with Richard Bottoms), and my wife and I happen to be in Wasilla at the moment visiting my mother and other family. We woke up to my mom's phone ringing off the hook; this just after my stepdad made an offhanded comment last night about Palin having been vetted as a VP candidate but didn't expect that it would get anywhere.

I'll say that it seems unlikely that Palin is going to be much on the "Crunchy" end of things; "Sam's Club Republican" is an excellent way to describe not only her, but much of the region. She'll definitely rank high on the "Con" scale, at least socially, given (among other things) the very visible lengths to which she walks the pro-life walk.

As an educated, urban-friendly but at present not-quite-urban/not-quite-suburban (circumstances have temporarily located us in a midwestern college town) Christian, this choice isn't a slam dunk for me, but it does make things interesting. Alaska is its own universe in a lot of ways, a big pond with a rather small number of little fish, and I don't get the impression she's done much to expand her own horizons beyond that universe -- an Alaskan going to University of Idaho for journalism and political science is a bit like a farmer going to "town" so he can get supplies from the general store -- but she's going to play the game by her own rules as much as she can. We'll see.

Richard

First of all, a "thank you" to Rod for pulling my post out of the loop and giving it such prominence.

To Mike F., some thoughts: As has been observed elsewhere already, "Marge from Fargo" has more executive experience than her running mate, or either of the two gentlemen on the Democrats' ticket. Second, to an extent not known in recent memory, she actually comes from the middle class various political figures devote so much rhetoric to talking about. Her husband works week-on/week off on the North Slope. They live modestly and within their means. She has been a youth athletics parent. She can perform small engine repair. She can butcher and pack a moose into a freezerful of family dinner portions. She is down to earth normal, smarter than many, and prettier than you or me.

No, she doesn't speak five languages, and if elected, might be at a loss confronting her first Afghan or Ethiopian menu at a restaurant in Washington D.C. Note -- I said "might". I don't know how she takes her lattes, so I'm not sure where she fits in the taxonomy of the educated urban class. But she can navigate a small fishing vessel by night with a NOAA chart, a GPS, and a cross reference to the heavens. Read Dava Sobel's "Longitude", or "The Starship and the Canoe" by Kenneth Brower, and then discuss how "educated" some members of the educated urban class really are.

I work in a large city now, but I once worked on the North Slope, and with those who operate pipelines and drilling rigs. If you have read "Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance" you have read about the art of problem solving. When you want a problem truly analyzed and solved, and if you want things fixed that are broken, it is not always best to recruit at your local Starbucks.

It has been observed that Governor Palin was only recently the mayor of a small town. One of her gifts -- and I think a place where, for the moment, the McCain campaign may have hit a political sweet spot -- is that though a principled Christian conservative, she has governed as a small government conservative, focusing -- as would a small town mayor -- on government doing well those things government must do, and tending not to be distracted by emphasis on those things government ought not to do, or does less well. And, as I said, she doesn't spend as much time TALKING about life issues. She simply goes on about the task of living them.

That sort of practical approach to governing is what many of us -- liberals as well as conservatives -- say we admire about the early founders.

True, the fact that her experience has largely been within Alaska makes her an unknown and unproven commodity on a national or international stage. But as anyone who has lived in Alaska can tell you, in the distances of Alaska, one can sometimes see very far indeed.

And, I don't think it gilds the lily too much to offer the thought that, having spent much of her life surrounded by the glory that is so evident in Alaska, she has a sense of herself that is grounded in perspective that will be welcome in our national debate.

Richard

The ever delightful Mona Charen happily posts a quote in the Corner saying that she's getting 'tons' of emails like this:

"Sarah is from America. Obama is not."

Wearyingly stupid, bigoted and old. Mike F. is right.

"Sarah is from America. Obama is not."

As someone also born in 1961 in Honolulu, I resemble that remark.

Kathryn Jean Lopez, quoting Marjorie Dannenfelser:

"...Sarah is someone who is truly in sync with the way real American women think."

Not those fake ones.

Three. Four.

And this is just The Corner, in the last hour.

Whee!

Let me try to restate my case:

If I had any faith in the Republicans I would celebrate all the good qualities of "Marge", a more pragmatic than ideological approach, a reformist streak, her apparent connection with the land, her genuine middle class roots, honest morality. I buy most of the good traits of Palin that have been pointed out here.

But I do not have faith in Rove's Republicans.

Instead I have a familiar sickening feeling. I suspect that Palin will be once again used as a "salt of the earth American" to bludgeon the more visibly educated and urbane Obama/Biden. The campaign will point at Palin and scream "real american" and then at people such as myself and scream "traitorous effete elites."

Hey if she ends up not turning into the newest incarnation of the usual vicious and simplistic Rove Identity Politics, I'll be very happy. But excuse me for not being optimistic.

fbc,
If that works for you, maybe you should consider where America would be without the "educated urban class." High tech? Finance? Believe me, Google's offices are not populated by the "salt of the earth."

Nor were a whole host of dot-com failures that came and went and all but wiped out the private venture capital in this country. You've had your way. We've seen it. Clintonistas, short sighted, centralized control freaks, and "live by politics" PC-blinded half-wits. Yeah, none were "salt of the earth." They're still back provdiing you the necessities they were before the boom and still there doing it after the bust.

America contains many distinct cultures, and going to war with the culture that drives the information economy (the only kind of industry that we've really got left) is suicidal. If you don't learn to live beside us NYC heathens and to tolerate our differences, this country will never get back to business.

I'm going to war with myself? I am the epitome of the information economy. Cutting edge technology bridging the digital divide without government money, grants, debt, or venture capital.

I'm going to guess that my real world experience is worth at least 10 of your fancy "urban educations".

Watcher, the first five letters of "patriot" are not j-i-n-g-o. Please, look it up.

I have no doubt you are a patriot. But with a post like that, you brand yourself an enemy of patriotism.

Sorry, Mike, but I don't believe this person is actually interested in civil discourse. He/she is right, anyone who disagrees is wrong... and may his God help you if you get the least bit snippy with him/her.

(Yes, Watcher, I do remember you referring to having a wife. Considering your consistent choices in rhetoric, you may consider that a backhanded expression of distrust.)

How about a nice game of Parcheesi?