Following my own advice

[missroserose]

Last night, I was winding down for the evening, sipping at a Greyhound while futzing around on the Internet. While checking my mail, I came across an email my grandmother had forwarded to me containing a number of pro-Palin political cartoons, most dating from a month or so ago when her candidacy was first announced.

My feelings on Palin are rather complex and fluid, which is probably why I've never gotten around to posting about them. I guess the email hit a nerve, because I started to compose a somewhat snarky and sarcastic response. But about halfway through, I stopped and closed my laptop, because (as I said to Brian) it's just not a good idea to drink and email. Especially with your relatives, about politics. Admittedly, my grandmother (unlike my aunt) is pretty tough, and could probably take it just fine, but since I'm certain that she meant the email in a friendly way, it didn't seem right to reply so negatively.

And lo and behold, this morning I start trawling my usual news websites and find that there are all kinds of articles that help articulate exactly what I'm feeling about Palin recently. So I composed a rational, reasonable response with supporting links and a minimum of snark, and I feel much better for having done so. It's good to know that occasionally I can exercise something resembling self-restraint. And also good to know that I haven't lashed out at someone who didn't deserve it.

For the record, since I haven't ever gotten around to posting about my feelings on Palin, here's what I sent to my grandmother:

I have to admit, over the past few weeks I've been extremely disappointed in Palin's performance. Even though I'm an Obama supporter, I was hoping that Palin would be able to give a strong showing, but the now-infamous Couric interviews (among others) have convinced me that she's out of her depth. Which is a good thing for Obama's candidacy, but (as a feminist) makes me feel disappointed and worried. To quote Emily Bazelon (who captures the feeling remarkably well in this piece on Slate), "The problem is that Palin is a vice-presidential candidate who is not ready to be president, not that she's a woman who isn't ready...By taking unprepared hesitancy and lack of preparation to a sentence-stopping level, she's yanking us back to the old assumption that women can't hack it at these heights."

I don't yet know whether, as Bazelon claims, Palin's quickly-deflating candidacy will give male politicians the excuse they need to replace the glass ceiling Clinton cracked with a new one. But I can't help wincing every time I see her stumbling over what should be a simple question ("What newspapers do you read?") and finding herself completely unable to construct a coherent argument (hell, a coherent paragraph) on the fly. Perhaps she'll do better at the debate tonight, but I have a sinking feeling that whatever sympathetic press she might receive will be at Biden's expense ("Look at him beating up on the poor woman!) rather than anything she achieves her own merits. Which is even more damaging to the idea that women can hold their own in the political arena.

I could be wrong, though. Maybe she'll finally hit her stride. We'll see.

Comments

[sigma7.livejournal.com]

You know, this is how paranoid I am now -- I'm beginning to wonder if the Palin candidacy wasn't just a targeted gunshot into the throat of feminist politics from a party that realized 2008 was lost already.

We go from Ferraro (forgetting, for a moment, her more recent descent into insanity) and Clinton (who, despite my distaste for how she chose to end her primary candidacy, would've made an impressive and distinctly feminist president) to Palin, whose continued embarrassments aren't doing future female candidates any credit, and the Republicans have been curiously quick to claim sexism on behalf of any would-be critics (or "gotcha politics" from Katie Couric, which is like being put in a headlock by Alan Alda).

Or maybe it's just McCain being all mavericky to the point where he brings an easily panicked person into the hard light of American politics long before she's ready. I can attribute a few Couric answers to nerves -- but not all of them. I hate to give the right-wing conspiracy credit for something they're not capable of organizing, but for the fact that it's working so well up to this point.

I think she'll do great in the debate tonight because the bar's been set adequately low that unless she's medicated into catatonia or swallows her own tongue she's going to beat expectations. Like you said, I'm not crying too hard over this turn of events, because between her and Grumpy McPOW (and I am honestly beginning to worry about his mental state, especially after the interview in Des Moines), all Obama has to do is show up and not kill anyone on-camera to win in November. But I see Palin twisting in the wind and while that's politically expedient, I fear what such a public failure does for female candidates down the ballot or in coming years. I don't consider myself a feminist, I don't think (I'm not sure I can earn that title), but the indignities she's suffering hurt far more than her shrinking political circle, and that troubles me.

[cyranocyrano.livejournal.com]

I'm glad you took the course of wisdom.
But I'm sad that I missed drunken snarky Rose. (:

[roseneko.livejournal.com]

I hardly think half a Greyhound counts as "drunken". Enough to lower inhibitions a bit, maybe, but hardly "chair feels like it's sloshing when I'm sitting still" drunken. :)

[cyranocyrano.livejournal.com]

That sounds like an excellent amount of drunken.
I would think that the latter wouldn't be much fun, and you should avoid it.

[roseneko.livejournal.com]

Judging from the one time it's happened to me, I would agree. :)