I mentioned to a friend on Monday that an important factor being overlooked with Palin was the archetypal image she represents: The Heroine. And it's a hard one to beat.
Past American political heroes are burned into our memories: The Founders, Washington, Lincoln, Roosevelt, Kennedy, Reagan-- the list is different depending on what you find heroic, but you get my point-- all are considered Heroes. And heroes are nothing if not inspiring. Politicians call on them to motivate every manner of good, and harm, in American voters. Just ask Iraq.
I don't know that it is intentional, but Palin is presently being constructed for voters using mythical imagery: mysterious (from 'far-away' Alaska) "super"-human (flies home to Alaska for child-bearing, hunts wild animals) fecund mother (many children, "special needs" child, able to do it all and "govern") and so on. I even heard a CNN reporter this afternoon suggesting that to catch up with current affairs she would have to be like the "Superman" child being fed information by her super-human 'parents' as he traveled to earth! I think this reporter was not repeating talking points but illustrating how the unidentified "meme" is beginning to unconsciously spread.
This archetype can NOT be allowed to take root. Attacking the Heroine is very dangerous and often backfires on the attacker. She has to be kept human--which she is-- at ALL COSTS.
We have some help in waking people up to the Palin heroine meme through an excellent article on HUFFPO from Jay Rosen The Culture War Option For The Palin Convention.
While he does not connect the dots consciously (the article is about reinvigoration of the culture wars) UNCONSCIOUSLY he points it out in his choice of the word "epic" and other choices I have noted:
The evangelical wing, and other social conservatives are strongly moved by her candidacy. More and more of their commitment to McCain is vested in him through her. As Andrew Sullivan writes: "The emotions involved -- especially among the Christianist base who have immediately bonded on purely religious and cultural terms with Palin -- are epic."
The strategy: sell the epic version of her candidacy. Allow her to become bigger than McCain in narrative terms. And let the two mavericks together overawe the Republican party, a damaged brand.
The epic language and culture war frame (requiring a fight between 'good and evil' and reinforcing the fighters as moral warriors) will expand the Heroine frame for her. For us, engaging the issues while staying outside the context of "culture war" will go a long way to squelch the Heroine meme.
Also useful along these lines would be this piece from George Lakoff. An excerpt:
What is at stake in this election are our ideals and our view of the future, as well as current realities. The Palin choice brings both front and center. Democrats, being Democrats, will mostly talk about the realities nonstop without paying attention to the dimensions of values and symbolism. Democrats, in addition, need to call an extremist an extremist: to shine a light on the shared anti-democratic ideology of McCain and Palin, the same ideology shared by Bush and Cheney. They share values antithetical to our democracy. That needs to be said loud and clear, if not by the Obama campaign itself, then by the rest of us who share democratic American values.
As ludicrous as the reality of a Palin VP should be, the power of a MORAL HEROINE for those addicted to religious fantasy is very real. We underestimate that power at our own peril.