Operation Shock the World: Sarah Palin Delivers Again!

From Within The Veil

W.E.B. DuBois said the problem of the 20th Century would be the problem of the color line; solidly within the color line in the culture of the United States stands African Americans, obscured from view by something similar to a veil -- those within are visible behind that veil, but precisely how clearly? Those within obviously see beyond that veil, but again . . . exactly how clearly? I believe the challenge of the 21st Century will prove to be the same as the challenge of the 20th Century (the color line) but with this distinct difference: the "special" burden presented by the challenge and that burden which must be shouldered will no longer be on those from without the veil. No, the special burden in the 21st Century will be on those of us within the veil. As it should be.

[this is the third of five parts on McCain's 2008 Campaign for President]

I’ll go ahead and predict it right now: Gwen Ifill, author of The Breakthrough: Politics and Race in the Age of Obama and moderator of last night’s Vice Presidential Debate, is going to go down in history as a symbolic footnote of establishment cluelessness due to her “Age of Obama” book set to be released by Inauguration Day 2009. Age of Obama? Hell no. Age of Palin? Oh, yes! That said,Gwen was basically fair last night. Fair, however, is not the word to use when describing the absolute riot that broke out when Palin was announced as McCain's VP pick.The response reminded me of the Deep South's controlling power structure back during the civil rights agitations of the 1950s and '60s.

There was a very clear and present danger that appeared on the scene and upset the status quo. And it made for some very ugly situations.

Bull Connor Lives

Most of us know who Bull Connor is; we've seen the images from Birmingham, Alabama of the snarling dogs, etc. Like all human beings, however, Bull Connor was more complicated than the negative iconic figure he has become in the history books. That's what happens when you come down on the wrong side of history and that's what's going to happen with the outrageous attacks by the far left on Sarah Palin and her family. You don't need the links. She, and they, have been trashed all over the place and some of that has been documented on this blog.

She has been viciously mocked in a desperate attempt to caricature her as nothing more than a mere cartoon – yet she is unyielding.

She has been forced to see her family shat upon by people who can’t comprehend that family values isn’t so much about being perfect but far more about properly responding to challenging situations -- yet, still she rises.

She has been stalked by one gotcha-seeking journalist after another-- yet they have failed in their efforts to force her out of this race or irreparably wound her candidacy.

And now she has not only survived the national debate with a prototypical Washington politician (repeatedly rejected in primary after primary by his own party for their nomination as standard-bearer in the race for President), she clearly won the thing.

The Force of a Man and the Grace of a Woman

She, ladies and gentlemen, is one hell of a woman and I'd like to take this opportunity to liken her to a class of American women I know quite a bit about. Women who have much in common with her but who wouldn’t think to draw such a parallel: African American women.

To accomplish my task, I want to share a disturbing 50-year old photograph with you from the American South. It’s virtually impossible for me to summon up the words that might provide sufficient enough explanation for you to comprehend what I feel when I obsess on this picture but I doubt if words will really be necessary:

This is a picture of Dorothy Counts in Charlotte, North Carolina and the day is September 4, 1957. Surrounded by a pack of wolves, she's trying to make her way to the neighborhood school. She's 15 years old. I damn near lost my mind when I first saw this photograph within the last year. On first sight, I could not for the life of me understand why her father or other black people were nowhere to be found. I've since come to understand there was a certain staging at play that day. The white man in the white shirt directly behind her was her protector and probably helped think through the staging of this event for maximum political effect while not allowing a tense event to get completely out of control. Dorothy's father had dropped the two of them off up at the top of the road and entrusted his daughter's safety to this guy.

Needless to say, this is an extremely difficult picture for many people to live down and surely contributed to the integration efforts in North Carolina.

There’s so much to see in that picture but try as you might, you can’t objectively place Barack Obama within the context of the photograph. He has been cherry-picked, and favored, and promoted at every step along the way since he arrived at Columbia University as an undergraduate way back in the day. Cherry-picked and placed in Chicago. Cherry-picked and given millions of dollars to run a program that failed and funneled money to who-knows-where. Cherry-picked and placed at Harvard Law School, cherry-picked and placed on Harvard Law Review. Cherry-picked and placed into the Illinois legislature, cherry-picked and given the 2004 prime time convention speech, etc.

In fact, Mr. Obama and his supporters are taking advantage of the conscious and subconscious American memory of moments such as depicted in the above photograph to escape necessary review while trying to win the single most important political job in the world.

Sarah Palin, however, does fit within that picture and has achieved against the odds at every step of the way in her climb up the political ladder.

Instead of some Charlotte neighborhood we’re vicariously viewing official Washington, D.C. as they surround Sarah Palin; they are not pleased that a supposedly unqualified interloper from some neighborhood no one knows anything about at all (beyond rumors, that is) has entered their midst. They yell, they scream, they seek to intimidate – they heap upon her much rebuke and scorn. All because she’s a fellow American, objectively qualified to enter, who not only had the temerity in her youth of aspiring to the highest office in the land -- she's actually trying do so without going through the Ivy League!

Skanky bitch!

And did you hear: she's oversexed, loose, irresponsible, an intellectual lightweight, devious, from an inferior family, etc. By now, I do hope you're recognizing the similarities of such a litany with the historical slandering (by some) of black women in America. And Palin is something of an athlete, too, and led her high school basketball team to a state championship!?! Come on -- that's stereotypical black female, all the way. As Harvey Mansfield proclaimed in his great piece where he asked this dangerous question, "Was feminism necessary?", she has the strength of a man and the grace of a woman.

What an appropriate line.

I love women like that, women who know how to exhibit strength and grace. In fact, I'm married to one and my mother is the exact same way. I'm sure that's one reason why I was immediately attracted to the idea of Sarah Palin as Vice President. The wonder to me is why so few seem able to see this obvious similarity.

Of course, I do know why they can't see it. They are being told not to see it. Is this a black thing or a battle of the sexes thing? Probably both. Mansfield wrote:

---

As sex goes up in social estimation, love goes down. The trouble with love is that it narrows your options and endangers your independence. If you loved a man, you might actually want to put up with, or even admire, his ways. You may be sure that I am not the first one to notice that feminist women are unerotic.

If none of what I am saying were true, feminists would be welcoming Sarah Palin with embraces as warm as they are capable of. They should be happy that their cause has spread to conservatives and become bipartisan. In fact, they see the Palin choice as a gross deceit, and their response is close to fury. Doesn't this suggest that feminism is not in behalf of the women's movement--but rather to promote radical adventures above and beyond its concern for women?

---

Yes, it surely does. And this provides an important window into the crisis of black male - black female relationships so lamented in black communities all over this country. The same is true for the larger culture and the war between the sexes. That's why Sarah is such a phenomenon. Her mere presence, her existence, touches and concerns so many people in so many different ways that it is totally unique in American history.

The Palin Effect

What effect, you might ask? Well, we're going to be writing about this woman for decades. She is literally standing on the edge of history! Consider this: after being told by those presumed to be far more knowledgeable and worldly that she was an embarrassment and (incredibly) not even female, she remains undeterred and insistent that she will in fact enter the protected kingdom and she will not, in fact, be intimidated. That’s Sarah Palin, ladies and gentlemen, and that's why I see her when I see that photograph above of Dorothy Counts.

Noemie Emery a week or two ago detailed the effect of Sarah Palin on our body politic. The first effect:

---

Call off the funeral. Three weeks ago, the wisdom was that the conservative movement was over and done with. It had burned itself out, taking the Republican party down with it, and setting the stage for the biggest explosion of liberal governance since perhaps the New Deal.

---

Official Washington, D.C. can deal with or at least tolerate country club Republicans. But Sarah Freakin' Palin? She gives them the vapors with a quickness! Whatever the psychologica state-of-mind of the D.C. establishment, Emery in essence says Palin proves the point that the big tent Republican Party of multiple coalitions of the willing wasn't, contrary to conventional wisdom, going away.

The second effect:

---

Angry White Women. Palin's pick was a hand grenade tossed into the old-fashioned feminist movement's aged and tottering hulk. "Can someone please tell me what the hell happened?" pled Michelle Cottle of the New Republic, as Sarah made landfall.

---

I addressed part of the Michelle Cottle bewilderment in a post on September 9th. Palin undeniably connects with women across the political spectrum. To that end, Emery goes on to note some uncomfortable truths for many feminists, such as the fact that women are less in favor of unfettered abortion rights than men are and that George W. Bush won the white female vote in 2004. These uncomfortable truths largely account for the hysterical attacks by the new Bull Connor's of the far left on an obviously qualified woman.

The third effect:

---

Hillary's Angle. As fate had it, the phone finally rang at three in the morning chez Hillary Clinton, and this time, it was a true crisis: It was Barack Obama, begging her to save his rear end.

---

I'm one of those folks completely unconcerned by polls that presume to show a clear Barack Obama lead, nationally. It makes no sense to me that in a time of financial crisis the country will vote to hand the reigns of the Presidency over to a man like Barack Obama and his sidekick Joe Biden. No way, no how, no Obama. All of these polling outfits are off -- all of them. It's almost as if Rush Limbaugh's Operation Chaos is still in full effect and all the numbers are being thrown off. Unfortunately, they are dangerously setting the stage for world-class bitching and moaning after Obama loses this race and a dedicated cadre insist the election was stolen from The Chosen One.

I have consistently asserted that Sarah Palin is a political earthquake severely underestimated in the official media of this nation and all associated entities. History is going to prove this to be far more the "Age of Palin" rather than the "Age of Obama."For this reason, it is difficult to overestimate her effect on this political race.

Finally, as an undergraduate at the University of Florida in the 1980s, the Communist Party USA tried to recruit me as a member. I had completed a tour in the United States Army, served in a unit that guarded the East German-Czechoslovak border, and had a Top Secret military clearance. My willingness to observe things for myself and make up my own mind based on my own observations probably made me an interesting candidate to the CPUSA. That, and my one-year subscription to the Communist Party magazine, that is. In the next edition of this series, the fourth of five and titled "Operation Connect the Dots," I'm going to explain why this experience (among others) allowed me to spot Barack Obama from a mile away and why I believe America should reject his candidacy.

Comments

[EarthTone]

{Sarah Palin, however, does fit within that picture and has achieved against the odds at every step of the way in her climb up the political ladder.}

C'mon RG... how can you possible compare Counts and Palin in this context... or any context?

Counts lived in an era of social and economic discrimination, physical intimidation, political disenfranchisement, and separate and unequal living conditions for African Americans.

When Counts "went to school", she was threatened with death.

Let's look at Palin. Was she surrounded by thousands of anti-white or anti-female haters when she ran for mayor or governor? Did Palin need physical protection during those times? Was she getting death threats?

Palin has a net worth of around $1.2 million. She is the most powerful woman in the state of Alaska. The government doesn't discriminate against Palin; she IS the government.

The only thing separate and unequal about Palin is that she's MUCH better off than the rest of us. Emphasis on MUCH.

If you want to say Palin has been the "victim" of unfair press, that's one thing. But c'mon, man... to say that there is a metaphorical-or ANY- comparison between Counts and Palin is ridiculous.

[RattlerGator]

The comparison I thought I made clear was the traditional slanders against black women, the fear (of the unknown, etc.) generated by those slanders, and their remarkable similarity to the slanders against Sarah Palin.

And I stand by them. I am especially emboldened since you have assiduously avoided any discussion of them and, instead, run to the particular woman in the picture and her particular circumstances.

That's called a dodge, EarthTone, and it is quite telling.

[Ree]

J.B.,

This is the President of LA, California, Chapter of N.O.W. endorsing Sarah Palin. The feminist are not staying in one camp. Tammy Bruce has already thrown her support behind McCain/Palin. There were btw 15,000.00 and 20,000.00 people at this rally. I believe the smarmy Palin smears that started right after she was picked for Republican Vice Presidential Nominee., is starting to have an effect. I believe one of the reasons Joe Biden, wasn't so condescending last Thursday night.

http://sarah-palin-2008.blogspot.com/2008/10/la-now-president-endorses-sarah-palin.html

[Ree]

J.B.,

Barack Obama, is bi racial, and his mother's ancestry is sometimes, passed over and the focus is on his father's Kenyan ancestry. This post is about Sarah Palin's ancestry, genealogy. Where it becomes significant, per identity politics, Palin, McCain and Obama share a common ancestor. They all can trace themselves back to early founding families and Royal linage. Barack Obama's mothers family, can trace themselves back to the same ruling class. How does that make Barack Obama "Change"

This genealogy also points out that Sarah Palin doesn't come from some jerkwater, backwards rustics. In fact quite the opposite.

http://sarah-palin-2008.blogspot.com/2008/09/all-in-family.html

[EarthTone]

OK, these are my last thoughts on this thread:

[1] RG, I appreciate that you try to be thoughtful (even as you're being combative) on all of this. If only you'd turn away from the dark side...

But, simply put: the challenges faced by Sarah Palin are NOT SIMILAR IN ANY POSSIBLE WAY to those faced Counts.

You taIk in your response of the "traditional slanders against black women", etc, etc. That's all well and good, but the "traditional slanders" and other stuff are NOTHING like what Counts faced when she integrated that NC school.

I mean, c'mon... you're comparing Counts and Palin... I don't mean to be harsh, but what are you thinking? I just can't take that seriously. I don't even think Palin would accept that comparison.

[2] For the sake of brevity, I'm not going to debate the whole piece. For the record: I think Palin is intellectually shallow. She most reminds me not of McCain, but rather of George Bush. The idea of her being a heartbeat away from the presidency scares the heck out of me.

Her success as a politician will not make her any less shallow, or make me any more accepting of her. So I'm saving both of us some time by not "debating" these particular pro-Palin points (or the anti-Obama one's)... Anyone who's for Palin will agree with you, anyone who's not will disagree.

[3] One note regarding Ifill's book: why not criticize it BEFORE you read it? My understanding is that she's not using the term to say that we're going to see a future age where Obama will "reign" (in the way that you feel Palin will "reign" politically).

What she's talking about, I think, is the way that black politicians will approach politics - to go from being "black candidates" to candidates who happen to black. That's an approach which you as a black Republican would probably welcome (even if you don't like that Obama is one of those who is using that strategy.)

[RattlerGator]

[1] EarthTone, are you seriously putting forward the idea that Gwen Ifill isn't ENRAPTURED with Barack Obama?

[2] So . . . Barack Obama "happens" to be black? Could have fooled me. Is this the same way he "happened" to lay down black liberation theology when it became inconvenient?

[3] When I heard his 2004 convention speech, I was very pleased and quite attracted to the man. When people questioned (and I mean Black Democrats) his blackness, I said he obviously was Black and there was no question on whether he was black enough. Then I started hearing rumblings during this campaign cycle and the more I have heard the more adamant I have become that this man cannot be President.

[4] This supposedly Christian man has winked at or openly encouraged Messiah-like worship of his candidacy. Are you comfortable with that, EarthTone? The way the "racial team" aspect of his candidacy has been encouraged by he and his supporters? That doesn't happen when a candidate believes he "happens" to be black and leads me to question your sincerity on the Gwen Ifill point. All of Black America is aware of how this man has pushed his candidacy and has been quite free is throwing around "race traitor" language for anyone who dares to not fall in line.

[5] Palin, my friend, probably doesn't scare you because you think she's shallow. Tell yourself that lie if you must; convince yourself you believe it if you must. But we all know better.

[Vince]

J.B., can you go on a riff like this dude? He rocks da house!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KxhYampIl7A

[RattlerGator]

Not bad, Vince. Not bad at all.

[Ree]

J.B.

I believe Barack Obama is the FACE turned out towards us, who is behind that FACE? People believe that Barack Obama is Black, he is when it is convenient. Barack Obama is bi racial, so why doesn't he run as a bi racial candidate? Obama is closer to the definition of African American, his father a Kenyan immigrant. Barack Obama is not the descendant of U.S.A. slaves.

I have listened to Professor Debra Dickerson, who wrote the book "The End of Blackness" she points outs, that she has two bi racial children, she does not think of them as Black. They have not shared that experience. I don't know how much Obama, has shared that experience?

I think Barack Obama, was pushed up to far, too fast in the Chicago Political Machine. I believe they projected his mass appeal to the American Electorate(sold as something new) It is a cynical view of Americans IMO. Americans will buy anything -including a Green political candidate, with socialist tendencies if you wrap the package right.

Perception trumps Reality, and Commerce trumps both i.e. our current manufactured financial crisis.

[RattlerGator]

Ree, here is clearly out of his league and has been pushed much too far much too soon.

I have some personal experience with that bi-racial thing. Many if not most black families do, either through their parents, siblings or first cousins. Perhaps you do, too.

It has not been dealt with in this election but it is a huge and divisive issue in the black community.

No one wants to admit it but everyone knows it.

I don't agree that Obama is closer to the definition of African American than families here for generations upon generations -- this term is, in its mythic conception, holistic and continent-wide; a definition for folks in the diaspora away from the continent of origin.

So, in the black intellectual imagination, Obama is closer to the definition of Kenyan-American which is a sub-group of our African American sub-group here in the United States.

That said, the people who are disgusted with the overreach of multiculturalism have a good and useful point.

We are Americans.

It is a dilemma, however, that doesn't allow for easy discussion. From my personal experience, and still my considered opinion, black people and white people mean very different things when we talk about multiculturalism. The reason why we are presently having the single most unserious examination of a presidential candidate in modern history is because of this differentiation, I do believe.

Obama (and Ayers, etc.) are taking serious advantage of that fact (which is why, by the way, I included that photo of the black female student integrating a Charlotte high school and linked it to Sarah Palin; these people so narrowly construe the black experience in America that they arbitrarily sever our connection to humanity).

Black people are entirely disconnected from the intellectual construct of multiculturalism as operated by the white liberal elite in our nation.

It's almost as if there are a minimum of two conversations going on (and perhaps three or four) at the very same event based on the exact same verbiage. Because they are the masters of projection -- when they moan about racism, look for it in their actions. When they lament the use of code in language, you are sure to find it in their delivery.

[Ree]

J.B.,

Yes it is a tangle, I have bi racial twin nieces. Now the argument made by Progressives (Tolerance) to attact voters like myself, would be, this would help my nieces. OF course I want their life to be like any other American people's lives. People are protective of their kin, and every generation wants the next generation to do better. The problem is, I can't make the socialist Obama inclinations, to square with the tolerant selling point. Did we just get right back to the point of your post?

My husband has a younger brother that is Spanish and Black, we all identify American. I am a family historian as you and I have discussed in the past. Some of my own roots are tri racial isolates -Melungeons, talk about a sub grouping:)

I am reminded of the old saying "call me whatever you want just don't call me late for dinner" SMILE.

The one problem The Left has with the constant racism narrative, is they are using up the juice- the power of the term, racist and racism. When used constantly and saturating the dialog, it starts to be watered down, where as before it would invoke immediate intensity and either the conversation would heat up or it would go silent.

Indeginous Americans actually have a spiritual belief, that words held power, that certain words should be guarded and reserved so they wouldn't lose their power. Not used up so infrequently invoked.

I remember watching a bio on Maya Angelou, she made a similar observation about the power of words, that they could even inspire death. She went dumb for years, she stated because of witnessing the power of words.

My point, the constant attack by the MSM that anything at all Obama's opponent does running against him, is Racist in origin is losing it's juice because it has been over used.

[chloe]

JB,
I just found your site today from a link that Ree posted on Trailmix, and I am grateful. It is so refreshing to read this from your point of view, and I find myself agreeing with (and admiring) most everything you've said. (And I don't agree with that many people).

It surprises me when others don't and can't see all bigotry, whether it's racism or misogyny, or any other, are all the same. They are equally wrong and one has to only be on the receiving end of that prejudice to understand how painful and immoral it is.

I look forward to the rest of this series, as well as anything you write on your blog in the future. Thank you.

[RattlerGator]

Love you, Ree. Very good comment.

Chloe, thank you so much. That's high praise and I think you've made my day.

[Ree]

Thanks J.B.,

I just want to punctuate my point. Sometimes people go to the well one to many times, and find the well has dried up.

http://hotair.com/archives/2008/10/06/frank-criticism-of-congress-is-now-racist-too/

[EarthTone]

These items will be of interest to those discussing Obama's racial identity.

This talks about the public perception of Obama's racial identity, and how his "bi-raciality" might affect his perceptins of Americans: Barack Obama, Black, Biracial, Whatever.

This post talks about how our knowledge of history - or lack thereof - affects our understanding of how race affects the election: The Consequences of Race History Ignorance on Our Politics.

[EarthTone]

OK, let's try that post again so that links show:

Barack Obama, Black, Biracial, Whatever:
http://allotherpersons.wordpress.com/2008/06/18/barack-obama-black-biracial-whatever/

The Consequences of Race History Ignorance on Our Politics.
http://allotherpersons.wordpress.com/2008/08/04/the-consequences-of-race-history-ignorance-on-our-politics/

[Lord Bitememan]

"The government doesn't discriminate against Palin; she IS the government."

Does that mean if Obama is elected president we can conclude the government doesn't discriminate against him? By extension. . . you get where I'm going with this, don't you?

[redmirabai]

Just found your blog today through LGF. Great stuff. The literalist who insists you draw an exact comparison between Counts and Palin misses the point. I'll venture to say it is artistic, poetical, even. The picture is of one young woman living her destiny proudly, unafraid, surrounded by fellow citizens who should know better, who want to destroy her and what she represents, and turn back the clock. A symbol not just for her time, but for ours, and maybe forever. Like Socrates' Defense.
Palin was not predicted, she hasn't wined and dined on the DC circuit; MSM is not on her speed dial. I first saw her on Craig Ferguson's late night show, making him an honorary citizen of Alaska!
She didn't go to school with them, she wasn't on their horizon, she doesn't live in their neighborhood, there's no network of favors owed and given. They fear her because she is not their creation, and they didn't see this coming at all. "Change" is a rhetorical device for Obama; for Palin it's an active verb requiring practice.

BTW, the YouTube cited by Vince was fun, too.
I'm looking forward to reading your blog, archives and all.