It's been two days and I still tear up when I think about the great thing my country did on Tuesday night. Barack Obama's election was the inverse of an event like 9/11 -- we will all remember where we were and what we were doing for the best reasons imaginable.
It was also wonderful because for me personally, it was one of the first times I've ever felt like my vote made a difference.
This morning, though, there's a cold little stream of water infiltrating my warm, happy bath. It's coming from Alaska, and Sarah Palin is turning the spigot.
You see, Sarah Palin will be back, and frankly, I think we should all be worried. Beginning now.
Palin is a shallow, narrow woman. In a lot of ways, she's George W. Bush in a dress. But she isn't stupid, and she is a politician to the core. A gifted politician.
She should be a source of worry for anyone who supports our new president because Sarah Palin may be the face of what will be a reconfigured Republican Party, 4 years from now. And at 44 years of age, Palin could conceivably be around and fighting for some of the worst elements of the right for decades to come.
Republicans are beaten, for now, and they are hurting. However, you need to take it from someone who self-identified as a Republican from the mid-1980s until 2004 -- no way in hell they're down and out. They will come back hard, and I think they'll come back meaner than ever. And Palin will be at the head of the pack.
So let's keep some focus on what some helpful mainstream publications have been able to tell us about Palin. Focus on what she's really like. These things will be the best weapons when she "rears" her head again -- probably within 24 months or so of Barack Obama taking office in January, 2009.
To make this relatively brief and therefore not too big a bucket of cold water, I'll focus on Palin's hypocrisy, which is easily demonstrated through news reports from as far back as 1996.
Here's an account of Sarah Palin's trip to Anchorage in 1996 to see no less than a symbol of 90s glamour and fashion, Ivana Trump. From the Associated Press, an article titled, "Ivana Trump, Perfume Attract Alaskan Crowd":
Sarah Palin, a commercial fisherman from Wasilla, told her husband she was driving to Anchorage to shop at Costco. Instead, she headed straight for Ivana.
[...]
"We want to see Ivana, because we are so desperate in Alaska for any semblance of glamour and culture," said Palin. [source -- also, emphasis was added.]
That old lipsticked pit-bull of a hockey mom wasn't feeling too keen on main street Wasilla that day, was she? Nope. She wanted a whiff of that fame and glamour. Job-related fish-stink day in and day out can do that to a gal.
The story above was why this now well-known Newsweek article should come as no surprise:
NEWSWEEK has also learned that Palin's shopping spree at high-end department stores was more extensive than previously reported. While publicly supporting Palin, McCain's top advisers privately fumed at what they regarded as her outrageous profligacy.
[...]
According to two knowledgeable sources, a vast majority of the clothes were bought by a wealthy donor, who was shocked when he got the bill. Palin also used low-level staffers to buy some of the clothes on their credit cards. The McCain campaign found out last week when the aides sought reimbursement. One aide estimated that she spent "tens of thousands" more than the reported $150,000, and that $20,000 to $40,000 went to buy clothes for her husband. Some articles of clothing have apparently been lost. An angry aide characterized the shopping spree as "Wasilla hillbillies looting Neiman Marcus from coast to coast," and said the truth will eventually come out when the Republican Party audits its books. [Emphasis was added.]
Sarah Palin's weakness is the disparity between the populist image she projected during the run up to the election and her actual ambitions. Her weakness is the same one far too many Republicans often end up having exposed -- her hypocrisy. At the bottom of it all, there is no altruism here. I was a Republican long enough to believe that there are still some in that party who really do give a damn about the people they ask to vote them into office. Sarah Palin isn't one of those Republicans.
She's in it for Neiman Marcus. She is in it for the hundreds of thousands of dollars in wardrobe. For "any semblance of glamour and culture." She's a rank hypocrite and has the potential to become something like an American Evita, if she ever does get the opportunity. And all those mushroom-headed, sensible-shoe wearing suburban moms out there who looked at Palin and said, "oh, I like her, she's just like me" are just blind enough to how dangerous these qualities might be in a president to try and crusade to give Palin the chance.
Alaskans seem to be blind to this. I suspect she has lost very little popularity there, and for all we know, Palin may end up in Washington sooner rather than later, anyway. As the replacement for Ted Stevens in the Senate. If she does, she will begin putting all her Machiavellian skills into play, networking with the people who can give her the money, point her to the consultants, set her up for another run for Pennsylvania Avenue, but this time in the top spot.
If we sit back now and sigh in relief and think our work is done, we are in real danger, come 2012. These fundamental flaws in Palin's character (and I'm well aware I've only just scratched the surface) will be buried and/or dismissed, and those who crossed the aisle, perhaps, to give Barack Obama a chance to lead, doubting all along, will swing back towards the face on the campaign poster with which they are far more comfortable. Sarah Palin's face.
Enjoy the now, enjoy the novelty of being able to say, "President-elect Barack Obama." On January 20, revel in saying or hearing, "President Obama." But don't think your work is over.
Palin will be back, and she'll be bringing others along with her.
Ignore or dismiss her at your peril.