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Jewish World Review
Sept. 10, 2008
/ 10 Elul 5768
There's Something About Sarah
By
Jonathan Tobin
Liberals -- including Jews -- should examine some of their overarching generalities about GOP's veep pick
http://www.JewishWorldReview.com |
One of the most intriguing episodes of American political history, and
one with particular resonance for observers of this year's presidential
race, took place at the Democratic National Convention in 1896.
At that time, the Democrats were split between supporters of the
policies of outgoing conservative incumbent President Grover Cleveland
and the party's left wing, known to history as the Populists. During the course of the platform debate, a little-known former
congressman from Nebraska named William Jennings Bryan ascended the
podium and made the radical argument for dropping the gold standard and
substituting it with a system in which the currency would also be
pegged to the value of silver. This foolish policy was favored by
farmers because they believed devaluing the dollar would benefit
debtors in a depressed economy.
THE 'CROSS OF GOLD'
The 36-year-old Bryan was a political nobody when he started what would
come to be known as the "Cross of Gold" speech. When he concluded with
a dramatic warning to the eastern business establishment that it would
not be allowed to "crucify" mankind "upon a cross of gold," he had
changed the face of American politics.
According to historical accounts, Bryan's oratory sent his listeners
into a wild frenzy. A day later, the Democratic delegates, most of whom
could not have picked him out of a police lineup before the convention,
nominated him for president in a shocking upset.
During the ensuing campaign, Bryan went on to travel the country giving
the rest of America a taste of his talent for speechmaking, an
unprecedented development in American politics. His opponent,
Republican William McKinley, would, by contrast, spend the fall as
every other previous presidential hopeful had done, merely receiving
visitors on his front porch in Ohio.
But McKinley had what Bryan did not - an army of expert fundraisers and
organizers (tactics that were not invented by Karl Rove). As a result,
he won the presidency that November.
Although Bryan is chiefly remembered today for an incident at the end
of his life - his pathetic turn as the prosecutor in the Scopes "monkey
trial," wherein a teacher was criminally charged for instructing his
students about evolutionary theory - his charismatic run for the White
House ushered in the modern era of political campaigning.
There is no "wayback" machine to return us to 1896 to witness how a
single speech could launch a national political career, but last week
we may have seen history repeat itself.
When Sarah Palin walked onto the stage of the 2008 Republican National
Convention, she was the focus of a firestorm of speculation and
condescension centered around the soap opera pregnancy of her daughter.
Even those in Republican standard-bearer John McCain's corner assumed
she had been tapped for the vice presidency as an act of affirmative
action and was bound to be exposed as a lightweight. The analogies
drawn with former vice president Dan Quayle, whose "deer in the
headlights" look would burden the first Bush presidency from the
get-go, were rampant even though Palin had yet to make her first
national appearance.
But by the time she finished speaking last week, Palin had become her
party's biggest star, eclipsing the popularity of even the honored war
hero on the top of the ticket.
Granted, Palin's acceptance speech was no "Cross of Gold" in terms of
eloquence. But her authentic "hockey mom" personality and tart
criticisms of her opponent, as well as of the media and the Washington
establishment, enthralled not only the delegates but a great many of
those television viewers who had tuned in because of the hullabaloo.
Republicans embraced Palin with the same sort of unexpected delight
that the Democrats experienced with Bryan 112 years ago.
Yet, the din of criticism has not diminished, although her address made
it quite clear that she is no "token female." Rather, it is she, not
McCain, who has become the principal political attraction on the GOP
ticket.
Though one expects Democrats to disagree with the substance of her
remarks, the patronizing contempt with which Palin's candidacy has been
regarded must go deeper than simple partisanship.
Palin's nomination has reignited the culture wars of the 1980s and
'90s, as liberals view her not merely as a representative of the
political party they oppose, but as an icon of a culture they regard
with snobbish distaste and trepidation.
These sentiments span the liberal spectrum, and quite notably reside
within a Jewish demographic. A portion of whom had heretofore been open
to the McCain candidacy. Judging by the reaction she has generated,
Palin is well on her way to becoming the evangelical bogeywoman for
liberal Jews who view her beliefs as the antithesis to all they hold
dear. For them, the Palin phenomenon is a nightmare.
Although soundly criticized for his remark, Barack Obama's slip of the
tongue about small-town Americans who cling to guns and religion rang
true to more than just his inner sanctum. To feminists, Sarah Palin is
the embodiment of that "small-town American," and while she may be a
woman, she is not "their kind" of woman. Even more to the point, the
idea that a conservative woman may be the one to finally break the
ultimate political glass ceiling is met by many Democratic women with
particular dismay.
ANOTHER THATCHER?
Last week, columnist Barbara Amiel wrote in The Wall Street Journal to
compare Palin to Margaret Thatcher, a fellow conservative who bucked
feminist sentiment in her rise to power in Britain. While it is way too
early for such a discussion, no one should be surprised if Palin vaults
to the top of the ticket in four or eight years, leaving more seasoned
male GOP bigshots in the dust. If she does - as was the case with the
similarly middle-class Thatcher - liberals, and in particular, liberal
women, will never forgive her for it.
Just as Palin's working mother persona has surely compelled some
religious conservatives to rethink their antediluvian beliefs that a
woman's place is still not in the governor's or vice president's
office, so, too, should liberals examine some of their overarching
generalities.
She is from an overwhelmingly Republican state where independence is
paramount. She, like many others from Alaska, hunts. She's an
evangelical Christian. Finally, she's a woman whose faith guided her
not to abort her Down Syndrome fetus. Liberals may insist upon smearing
her as a yahoo coming in to trample the rights of the few remaining
freethinkers, but they'd be kidding themselves if they deny that Palin
is independent, unequivocating and a political natural whose talents
should not be underestimated.
On the strength of one remarkable speech, Sarah Pal
in has risen from
obscurity to become the darling of conservatives and a political star.
Her critics may hope that she never catches the brass ring just as
Bryan ultimately failed to do. On the other hand, it is possible that
we have just been introduced to the woman who may become our first
female president.
Every weekday JewishWorldReview.com publishes what many in Washington and in the media consider "must reading." Sign up for the daily JWR update. It's free. Just click here.
JWR contributor Jonathan S. Tobin is executive editor of the Philadelphia Jewish Exponent.
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© 2007, Jonathan Tobin
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