The Parker Problem

The Parker Problem

September 30, 2008

In case you missed it, conservative columnist Kathleen Parker published a column last Friday in which she expressed misgivings about the qualifications of Republican vice-presidential candidate Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin.

For sure, Kathleen Parker is to be respected for her opinion. She is knowledgeable, committed to her cause, and for the most part, completely, and totally wrong.

I’m amazed that she could draw any conclusions from Alaska Governor Sarah Palin based solely on her interviews with bias, arrogant, elitist, and condescending hacks the likes of Charles Gibson and Katie Couric.

If anything, if the objective observer were to conclude that Gov. Palin did not present well with the likes of Mr. Gibson and Ms. Couric – that is a plus for Gov. Palin and all the more reason to vote for her.

Ever since Gov. Palin burst upon the national spotlight the elite media and partisan hacks have waged an all-out war to marginalize and trivialize her as a rightwing bimbette ideologue without a mind of her own. A mantra that is not consistent with how she has governed.

Ms. Parker’s column begs for one key and important question. As a result of her misgivings about Gov. Palin, are we relegated to vote for Illinois Sen. Barack Obama and Delaware Sen. Joe Biden?

Both are arguably good people, but will Sen. Obama’s naive positions on foreign policy make us safer? Will Sen. Obama’s positions on economic policy empower the economy or tax so much capital out of the nation’s finances that it will cripple the nation?

Of course, in the long run, one wonders when the elite media will ask Senators Obama and Biden the same condescending gotcha questions of which Gov. Palin has been subjected. Last but not least, how would Senators Obama and Biden fare if they had been unfairly subjected to the same intense scrutiny?

Individually all four candidates have their strengths and weaknesses. In the end, we are faced with voting for the team with the least number of weaknesses.

The Palin Problem Kathleen Parker Friday, September 26, 2008

[…]

Some of the passionately feminist critics of Palin who attacked her personally deserved some of the backlash they received. But circumstances have changed since Palin was introduced as just a hockey mom with lipstick -- what a difference a financial crisis makes -- and a more complicated picture has emerged.

As we've seen and heard more from John McCain's running mate, it is increasingly clear that Palin is a problem. Quick study or not, she doesn't know enough about economics and foreign policy to make Americans comfortable with a President Palin should conditions warrant her promotion

[…]

Finally, Palin's narrative is fun, inspiring and all-American in that frontier way we seem to admire. When Palin first emerged as John McCain's running mate, I confess I was delighted. She was the antithesis and nemesis of the hirsute, Birkenstock-wearing sisterhood -- a refreshing feminist of a different order who personified the modern successful working mother.

Palin didn't make a mess cracking the glass ceiling. She simply glided through it.

[…]

Read the rest of Ms. Parker’s column here: The Palin Problem Kathleen Parker

20080926 The Parker Problem by Kathleen Parker