Former Governor Sarah Palin has become an object of criticism and ridicule for writing notes on the palm of her hand while giving a speech and interview in connection with the Tea Party convention. Keith Olbermann on MSNBC went into paroxysms of laughter and hubris-filled disgust that made one question his authenticity and soundness of judgment more than Mrs. Palin’s. Who cares where she wrote down her notes? Why does this matter at all?
There was plenty that former Governor Palin actually said to the Tea Party convention that was disturbing, no one needs to focus on the sideshow of her palm notes. Palin has a knack for making the hokey comment that drives her opponents wild, in this case asking "how that hopey-changey thing is working out for ya?" Of course, at one level, this is merely a cute attempt to mock the President’s sloganeering during the campaign, although it should be noted that all candidates sloganeer during campaigns. Remember "Read my lips: No new taxes!"? At a deeper level, and among one group of Americans that did not appear to be well represented at the Tea Party convention, President Obama’s election represented a hope and a change that was both historic and deeply personal: For African-Americans, Obama’s election represents the same kind of hope and change that John F. Kennedy’s election represented for Catholics, and Palin is wrong to fail to understand that.
Of course, Palin is not unique in this failure. During the pile-on of Obama before his commencement address at Notre Dame, I kept wondering what the critics, especially the venomous ones, would have to say if they were called upon to preach at St. Augustine Church here in Washington, a historically black Catholic congregation that is somewhat conservative but was also deeply aware of the ground-shifting significance of Obama’s election. Being the first black President is not a free pass on any issue including abortion. But, the inability of some white Americans to see how their words fail to grasp this elemental experience their black fellow Americans have just celebrated shows a lack of human and moral imagination, whether that lack is found in former Governor Palin or in a Catholic bishop.
So, liberals need to start leaving Palin alone on the kind of personal quirks that do not matter and recognize her for what she is: One of the most interesting and compelling voices among conservative Americans, with a bubbly personality that is attractive to many, and a willingness to engage in politics. No matter what you or I may think of her views, hats off to anyone who has the courage to run for office. And, Palin and other critics of the President need to remember that they must differentiate criticism of his policies from criticism of the man. For many Americans, he represents more than a congeries of policies. Catholics around the world kept pictures of JFK on their mantles, whether they voted for him or not and black Americans wince when people demean the hope they feel when they see a black man sitting in the Oval Office and feel included in the American dream in a way they were not before.
Michael Sean Winters
In the course of my day, catering to the very wealthy, I hear quite a few criticisms of Obama, and 99% of them have nothing to do with his policies. The one going around yesterday had to do with the African Lions at the Washington zoo.
I appreciate your giving Palin the benefit of the doubt in you column, and, yes, Keith Olberman is obnoxious.
And I agree that Keith Olbermann can be obnoxious. As slanted as Fox News is to the right, MSNBC often draws the same acute angle to the left. That's why I rarely watch either and prefer instead PBS and some coverage on CNN.
I do agree with Beth that there is a racist root to much of the criticism of President Obama. I also think that many Catholics would be truly shocked to see the similarities between the President's statements on the economy and ''Caritas in Veritate'', Benedict XVI's encyclical, as well as other Church Social Justice teaching. That wouldn't be a surprise. I haven't heard Vatican II mentioned in a US Catholic parish since I returned to the USA in 1990. How would parishioners know? Do you ever see a quote from a Council document on a parish website? Have a look... Very sad.
There's a difference between having such command of the subject matter that you a few prompts and having to read everything you do from a teleprompter.
The former has some substance. The latter, not so much.
I am more troubled by how Gov. Palin needed advanced help in preparing for her run for office (as reported in the recent book Game Change) than I am by her crib notes. Having handlers is one thing. Having them think for you is quite something else. While the Presidency may be a kind of public role, that is not all it is. You really need to know your stuff to serve and be somewhat interested in the world beyond your ideology. She has not shown herself to be more than her accumulated talking points. I hope that as a nation, we have more sense than to elect a sock puppet as President of the United States.
"Having handlers is one thing. Having them think for you is quite something else. While the Presidency may be a kind of public role, that is not all it is."
Interesting.
But that doesn't bode very well for a President who needed to add 32 czars to what every other President in history was able to make do with, does it.
Is that the same sight that lists how many servants Michelle Obama assigned for her own personal use? Something like 30 isn't it?
I don't often agree with Winters, but he's right on this one. It's a bit of a farce to compare jotting down a few words to remind yourself of the points you want to make and having to read from a teleprompter every time you get in front of a camera.
This is absolute nonsense. I live in the deep south; I lunched today at old time diner here, there was a picture of Pres. Obama on the wall. Sure, there are some racists out there, but to reduce the entire Tea Party movement to racism is simple-minded and the typical sort of Liberal arrogance that drove me crazy in school. As a Republican, I'm not fan of Palin, but the vehemence of the media attacks on her only serves to reinforce her positions and actually makes her a VERY sympathetic figure. Unlike someone like Elizabeth Edwards who, it turns out, is a complete nasty mean-spirited jerk of a person (see GameChange for details), but who gets a free pass because her politics conform.
And as for mocking Obama's teleprompter-itis. The reason its good fodder is that it reinforces the idea that he's aloof and can't communicate outside highly-staged events. The notes on the hand HELP Palin's narrative, since I think most ordinary people don't give a bleep about it. But keep attacking, and I guarantee you, she'll come close to winning a major office.
And speaking as someone who is a whole lot more liberal than Obama on most issues, I'd just note that the conservative movement really deserves a leader/spokeswoman who is a whole lot smarter and better informed than Governor Palin appears to be. The ability to express the resentments of a large group of people is not the same as having something positive to contirbute to our national discourse. Left, right, and center all need serious discussions of the issues-not just angry slogans and sound bites (and please do note the inclusive criticism of the previous phrase).