A Time for Change

Yesterday, I wrote about the ads that will be running thanking Sarah Palin for her “articulate advocacy of common sense conservative values.” I have since come across a ”Draft Sarah Palin for President” website that claims to have 100,000 members.  What has potentially been lost in her gaffes and otherwise comic moments, is her appeal to a segment of our society that is extremely conservative.  I read some of the posts from the website.  Here’s one:

The left-wing journalists (MSNBC the most rabid of the cable channels) are recognizing what a threat Sarah Palin is and therefore, as with the British officers, they are targeting her. (Somehow they are not following Newt Gingrich.) It is amazing that they are sending a` crew to Alaska simply to follow Sarah around. The objective is obviously to discredit Gov. Palin, that is to jump on a mistake, have her awkwardly answer a question, or in this case, juxtapose Sarah talking to a journalist against a background of what actually happens in a slaughtering house, they kill birds to eat. *** Now to the simple-minded, (I am surrounded by such liberals at work), this incident is but further proof of Gov. Palin’s incompetence, and much the subject of laughter, but the feeble minded are easily amused. To Gov. Sarah Palin supporters, “get used to it.” Gov. Palin is more a threat to Obama and the Democrats than any other person on the planet, and the left-wing is going to do everything possible to take her down. Such trivial incidents are going to be made much of, because on the big issues, she is very much in tune with the American public. Leaders are not leaders because they have any specific set of characteristics. There is no paper test to take. Rather, leaders are leaders because they attract followers to listen to them, to understand them, to respect them and to support them. Sarah has that, that is why she is dangerous, and that is why left-wing crews are in Alaska to tape her every move. She is a threat to them and they know it. watch video here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k8DTSPzU0RI You betcha! 

I guess I just don’t understand the disconnect between what I saw as Sarah Palin wanting to do an interview after pardoning the turkey while turkeys were being slaughtered as opposed to being somehow trapped into doing it. I understand that it was an Alaska station that interviewed her, not the allegedly “rabid” MSNBC or any other major cable or network.  Governor Palin knew where she was being filmed and she freely and voluntarily had the choice to have that interview take place away from that gruesome backdrop or not at all.  She chose to be right where she was at that time and place – she was no victim.

As one of those “feeble minded” people who was amused by that incident, I would have been just as amused if the same incident had happened to Hillary or Bill Clinton or Michelle or Barach Obama. And it is completely unclear from the post what we “feeble minded” types are supposed to “get used to.”

I digress.  Getting back to the point, the striking thing about that post is the statement that “she is very much in tune with the American public.” Did we just watch the same election?  I am one of those Hillary Clinton supporters who was unsure about whether I wanted to support Obama and thought I might vote for John McCain….until Sarah Palin spoke at the Republican National Convention. Her speech seemed like the same thing that I had heard from the Republicans as long as I can remember and it was old and mean (and yes I have voted Republican).  I did not like what I heard.  I thought her statements about winning the war in Iraq were ridiculous.  I disliked the mocking, nasty way that she made fun of Obama’s community service and I did not even like him much at the time.  It was the same old mean, divisive chatter that I I have heard forever and that seemed so out of touch with the 21st century and the significant and historic problems that we face.

Why did she repulse me (before a gaffe ever occurred)?  I consider myself a moderate, more conservative fiscally than I am on social issues.  Some would call me a liberal. Some would call me conservative. What do these labels mean today anyway?  What is the difference between a liberal and a conservative?  Are we so different?  I thought that if she is a “conservative,” then I must be a “liberal.”

Then I had a conversation with a co-worker who has voted Republican in every election. She thinks of herself as a “conservative,” yet when we started to discuss issues, we agreed on everything.  So what do these labels mean?  Nothing.  These terms are just a way to divide and to focus on emotions and not issues.

There is a very interesting Pew research Center report analyzing the differences between liberal and conservative opinions on social issues, which are by far the most hot button of our time.  The conclusion of the study was that “Americans cannot be easily characterized as conservative or liberal on today’s most pressing social questions.”  

Together, the results of the latest national survey by the Pew Research Center for the People & the Press and Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life suggest that the public remains reluctant to move too far from current policies and practices on many key social policy questions. Despite talk of “culture wars” and the high visibility of activist groups on both sides of the cultural divide, there has been no polarization of the public into liberal and conservative camps.

Indeed, public opinion has moved little on these issues in recent years and continues to be mixed and often inconsistent, reflecting a blend of pragmatism and principle. For instance, a clear majority (56%) continues to oppose allowing gays and lesbians to marry while 35% express support. But nearly as large a majority (54%) supports allowing homosexual couples to enter into legal agreements that would give them many of the same rights as married couples.

The survey, conducted July 6-19 among 2,003 adults, also found that 55% prefer that abortion laws be decided at the national level rather than each state deciding for itself. This desire for a national policy prescription extends to other social issues as well. Despite growing antipathy toward Congress and low levels of trust in the federal government generally, majorities or pluralities also favor a national rather than state-by-state approach to policy making on stem cell research, gay marriage and whether creationism should be taught in the schools along with evolution.

The poll also found no consensus among either supporters or opponents of gay marriage over how far to go to press their respective positions. Barely half of all those who favor allowing gays to marry say supporters should “push hard” to make it legal as soon as possible, while slightly more than four-in-ten urge caution so as to avoid creating “bad feelings against homosexuals.” Similarly, only a small majority (54%) of gay marriage opponents favor amending the U.S. Constitution to ban gay marriage. The public is similarly divided on other hot-button issues. A slim majority (52%) opposes allowing gays and lesbians to adopt children.

Abortion continues to split the country nearly down the middle. But there is consensus in one key area: two out of three Americans (66%) support finding “a middle ground” when it comes to abortion. Only three-in-ten (29%), by contrast, believe “there’s no room for compromise when it comes to abortion laws.” This desire to find common ground extends broadly across the political and ideological spectrum.

Majorities of Republicans (62%), Democrats (70%) and political independents (66%) favor a compromise. So do majorities of liberals, moderates and conservatives. More than six-in-ten white evangelicals also support compromise, as do 62% of white, non-Hispanic Catholics.

Only one group expressed unwillingness to find a middle way. Two-thirds (66%) of those who support an outright ban on abortion say there should be no compromise. In contrast, two-thirds of those who want abortion to be generally available are ready to seek an accommodation.

Think about it.  In my experience, the American people are the kindest, most hardworking most generous people in the world.  Do Americans want their daughters to be butchered if they need to have an abortion? No.  Americans might not personally believe that an abortion is the right choice, but Americans realize that girls do not freely want to have abortion as a means of birth control as the extremists would have people believe.  For every woman I know, abortion is a highly personal, very serious decision that has never been taken lightly.

Do Americans want gays who want to be bound by a legal relationship to be denied health insurance and the right to say goodbye to a partner dying in the hospital? No. The majority favors civil unions.

Do Americans want to impede significant progress in cures for a number of diseases by curbing or eliminating stem cell research? No.  According to the Pew report, a clear majority support it (56%).

So, is Sarah Palin “ very much in tune with the American public”?  Based upon what I saw on the campaign trail and what I know of her background, she is very much apart from what Americans want to accomplish in this country – Republican or Democrat. For example, her recent speeches on the campaign trail sounded very much like a hearkening back to McCarthyism in her “blue areas are less American than red areas speeches.”  Americans want leaders to forge a common ground, not leaders who foment division, suspicion and hate for their personal ambition.  

Draft Sarah Palin for President 2012? by Catherine J MacIvor is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.