So, I watched Gov. Sarah Palin's speech last night. And then I watched the post- speech commentators and then this morning's post-speech commentators, and almost, to a t, they gave Ms. Palin an A to A+ on her efforts. As a matter of fact, more than one has christened her the new "Norma Rae."
Were we watching the same speech?
Sarah Palin introduced herself by introducing her family. I like that. We all have families, and apparently Sarah's like many of ours, doesn't fit into the fictional perfection of Mayberry R.F.D. As we all must know by now, one of Sarah's daughters is pregnant out of wedlock. This news, interestingly enough, has been universally accepted by the members of the RNC flock. They are surrounding the situation with acceptance and love, and wish the best out of a tough situation.
I can't help but wonder why all this love and acceptance isn't transferable to other girls and women who find themselves unintentionally pregnant. The current RNC is pretty clearly in favor of women being forced to have babies, but strangely enough, the GOP is well known for being against many initiatives for extending health care options to poor and working class women and children. As a matter of fact, Gov. Palin earlier this year used her line-item veto to reduce allocated funding for a state program benefiting teen mothers in need of a place to live.
We're being told that Gov. Palin is a good role model and choice for women voters to connect with and thus vote for because she is a mother, and is from a small state, a small town, is an everywoman that can also field dress a moose. It all sounds good in the pre-planned text, the focus-group tested soundbites, the chorus of 1,000 repeating the same talking points endlessly. And YES I can understand and relate to Sarah Palin as a working woman, as a mother, a person with direction and her own set of values. But here's the rub. Even though I can identify with Sarah Palin the woman, the values we embrace couldn't be more different if we tried.
For the last 24 hours I've been hearing the talking heads rave about Gov. Palin as an embodiment of Norma Rae, Norma being the fictional small-town, minimum wage textile worker who gets involved in labor organizing at the mill in where she works. So, let's for a moment, take a deeper look into the comparisons of Norma Rae and Gov. Sarah Palin.
Norma Rae is female, and so is the Governor.
Norma Rae is a single mother of two children, who is having to live with her parents to make ends meet. Gov. Palin is a married woman with five children and lives here.
Norma Rae works at a minimum wage job in a textile mill. Current minimum wage is $6.85/hour, which means a years salary is $12,500. Working in an un-unionized textile mill she's not apt to be receiving health care from her employer, nor are working conditions at the mill particularly safe. Gov. Palin's salary is approximately $82,00 per year, her husband reportedly makes $100,000/yr plus whatever is pulled in from fishing. I imagine the Governor and her family lives rent free in the Governor's Mansion and if she is like most high ranking governmental employees, I imagine Governor Palin and her family receive health insurance benefits from the state.
Despite being a single mother, working long hours in oppressive work conditions, Norma decides to help a union organizer from New York. Initially suspicious of the union, she comes to realize that collectively, hard working laborers might be able to get some economic justice and workplace protection for their backbreaking work. Seemingly, just like how she appeared unaware of what the US Vice President's duties are, Sarah Palin has no idea what a community organizer actually does. For those so far removed from the the idea of community or organizing, Norma Rae is a community activist. Organizing workers in order that they can form a powerful unit capable of standing up to powerful employers is an an example of community organizing.
So while Norma Rae befriended a representative of a union governing body, Sarah Palin on the other hand, has aligned herself with a running mate and a political party that dislikes working people organizing themselves in order to get better pay, adequate healthcare, and safe working conditions.
Norma Rae would understand about employer harassment and discrimination against workers attempting to organize, she would support legislation that went about protecting those who sought freedom from intimidation. Barack Obama co-sponsored and is strong advocate for the Employee Free Choice Act, a bipartisan effort to assure that workers can exercise their right to organize.
Sarah Palin's running mate's philosophy is decidedly anti-union.
McCain Voted against the law supported by Barack Obama, the Employee Free Choice Act, and he voted for a National ‘Right to Work’ for Less Law that would attempt to eliminate unions altogether. (H.R. 800, Vote 227, 6/26/07; S. 1788 Vote 188, 7/10/96)
Since Norma Rae's income was so low, she wouldn't have been able to afford private health insurance. If she or any of her children had fallen ill, they would not have access to health care. Union workers are more likely to have some sort of health care benefits provided by their employer, and Barack Obama IF ELECTED will make available a new national health plan to all Americans, including the self-employed and small businesses, to buy affordable health coverage that is similar to the plan available to members of Congress. Sarah Palin's ticket doesn't seem terribly concerned about health care for working people. If Gov. Palin and John McCain are concerned about the type of folks portrayed in Norma Rae, they sure have a funny way of showing it. The cornerstone of the McCain plan for working Americans to get health coverage, is to gut employer based insurance and replace it with small sized individual tax credits that could actually end up getting taxed.
Norma Rae only received a minimum wage in the movie. A worker working full-time for a minimum wage in the United States makes less that $15,000/year. $15,000. Under Barack Obama's economic proposals, the
minimum wage would be increased, it would actually be indexed to inflation the Earned Income Tax Credit would be increased as well so as make sure that full-time workers earn a living wage that allows them to raise their families and pay for basic needs. Sarah Palin on the other hand is part of a team whose leader says that he supports raising the Federal Minimum wage even though he's voted against it 19 times.
So even though the media pundits and GOP talking heads are trying to characterize Sarah Palin as the new Norma Rae, I don't find anything in common with Norma Rae and Sarah Palin except for the fact they are both women and both have children, and quite frankly, that's not enough similarity for me to be motivated to support a McCain/Palin ticket.
Norma Rae, a character based on a real life textile working in North Carolina, was a real fighter for working class people. People who are proud to and proud of their work. They are part of the cornerstone of our nation, and some of them are community organizers and activists as well.
Norma Rae would obviously understand the issues working class women face and would focus her efforts to ensure that laws and policies reflect the best interests of this community. Sarah Palin has chosen to align herself with a political party and a political ticket that has consistently shown itself to be anti-union, hostile to living wage laws, against comprehensive health coverage and opposed to protecting American jobs from export.
To the media pundits and GOP talking point memos and Governor Palin I say this: Governor, we have seen the movie Norma Rae, we know the character Norma Rae, Norma Rae is a friend to working class men and women, and Governor, you're no Norma Rae.