CE Week #5: “Wrong woman for the job”
If at one time women were considered heretical for swimming upstream against feminist orthodoxy, they now face condemnation for swimming downstream – away from Sarah Palin.
To express reservations about her qualifications to be vice president – and possibly president – is to risk being labeled anti-woman.
Or, as I am guilty of charging her early critics, supporting only a certain kind of woman.
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.
Yes, she recently met and turned several heads of state as the United Nations General Assembly convened in New York. She was gracious, charming and disarming. Men swooned. Pakistan’s president wanted to hug her.
And, yes, she has common sense, something we value. And she’s had executive experience as a mayor and a governor, though of relatively small constituencies (about 6,000 and 680,000, respectively).
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.
It was fun while it lasted.
Palin’s recent interviews with Charles Gibson, Sean Hannity and now Katie Couric have all revealed an attractive, earnest, confident candidate.
Who Is Clearly Out Of Her League.
No one hates saying that more than I do. Like so many women, I’ve been pulling for Palin, wishing her the best, hoping she will perform brilliantly. I’ve also noticed that I watch her interviews with the held breath of an anxious parent, my finger poised over the mute button in case it gets too painful. Unfortunately, it often does. My cringe reflex is exhausted.
Palin filibusters. She repeats words, filling space with deadwood. Cut the verbiage and there’s not much content there. Here’s but one example of many from her interview with Hannity:
“Well, there is a danger in allowing some obsessive partisanship to get into the issue that we’re talking about today. And that’s something that John McCain, too, his track record, proving that he can work both sides of the aisle, he can surpass the partisanship that must be surpassed to deal with an issue like this.”
When Couric pointed to polls showing that the financial crisis had boosted Obama’s numbers, Palin blustered wordily: “I’m not looking at poll numbers. What I think Americans at the end of the day are going to be able to go back and look at track records and see who’s more apt to be talking about solutions and wishing for and hoping for solutions for some opportunity to change, and who’s actually done it?”
If Palin were a man, we’d all be guffawing, just as we do every time Joe Biden tickles the back of his throat with his toes. But because she’s a woman – and the first ever on a Republican presidential ticket – we are reluctant to say what is painfully true.
What to do?
McCain can’t repudiate his choice for running mate. He not only risks the wrath of the GOP’s unforgiving base, but he invites others to second-guess his executive decision-making ability. Barack Obama faces the same problem with Biden.
Only Palin can save McCain, her party and the country she loves. She can bow out for personal reasons, perhaps because she wants to spend more time with her newborn. No one would criticize a mother who puts her family first.
Do it for your country.
While the title of this article is “Wrong Woman for the Job,” it should be wrong person for the job. “To express reservations about her qualifications to be vice president – and possibly president – is to risk being labeled anti-woman.” The fact of the matter is that racism and sexism are going to plague this Presidential race. In a perfect society, race and gender would not matter. In reality, there are probably people that are racist and sexist. But, in a country that was founded on the basis of opportunity and has come to know a sense of equality, the candidates should not be attacked based on their gender or race. Their stances on issues and credentials should be the factors that are scrutinized. Those factors should determine the outcome of the Presidential race, but it will be nearly impossible to determine if race and gender really did not play in to determining the pair that will be sworn in come January. I personally prefer quotes like this: “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” to quotes like this: “Like so many women, I’ve been pulling for Palin, wishing her the best, hoping she will perform brilliantly.” The latter is plagued with feminine pronouns. “No one would criticize a mother who puts her family first.” Would anyone criticize a father who puts his family first? “He not only risks the wrath of the GOP’s unforgiving base, but he invites others to second-guess his executive decision-making ability.” If Obama is facing the same problem with his VP choice, why isn’t this article suggesting that Biden back out?
I kind of feel the same way as the author of this article. As a female, I also have been pulling for Palin. At the convention, she seemed like a fresh new face of politics. She had been through a lot of family issues between her son with Down syndrome and her young, pregnant daughter. She was more able to relate to the public than the men running that have lived the last who knows how many years sitting in the houses of Congress. Lately, however, the realization that Palin is not right for the job has been setting in, and not just for me. The reason she seems so inexperienced is because she is. A few years being governor of an unknown town in Alaska isn’t really the best thing to put on a resume when you are running for vice president. She may be able to relate to the public, but she has shown that she knows nothing about economics, foreign relations, and basically everything else. The list could go on forever.
I still don’t think it’s right to be telling Palin to back out of the race now. Everyone knows she will “win” the upcoming debate because nobody thinks she will do any good. All she needs to do is start watching the news and study. If I can learn more than she knows in a matter of weeks, I’m pretty sure anybody can. You just need someone to help you with it. I realize she has a lot going on at home. If it gets worse, maybe she should pull out just so she can pick up the pieces. I don’t think she should leave just because people feel she is going to lose, however.
Why IS this article called “Wrong Woman for the Job”? Should there be another woman in the place of Palin?
This presidential race is crazy! No matter what, if McCain wins, the country will be viewed racist, and if Obama wins, the country will be viewed as sexist. This is a no win situation. That is sad. This country should not be viewing the candidates based on their outwardly appearance, but solely on their beliefs and new ideas. The only reasons why Palin and Obama are the most important targets of the media are mainly because she is a woman, and he is a different color. Biden and McCain are boring, nothing new about them, and they follow the tradition of presidential candidates of the past. Targeting Obama and Palin make the race more interesting, so people keep track of the race. It should not be because of WHAT they are, but it should be because WHO they are.
“If Palin were a man…” that quote from this article is ridiculous. She is not a man, so what? People can still say what is true about her; they can still guffaw at her just as they would IF SHE WERE A MAN.
I largely agree with the point this article makes, though my rationale is different. It seems to be a particular percentage of the women vote seems to simply want to vote for the candidate that is female. People were actually making statements against Oprah for endorsing Barack Obama instead of Hillary Clinton. This may not be an example of cross-pressure, since both demographics tend to vote Democratic, but it’s interesting to see some people try to convince others via gender loyalty. This seems to largely been the desired effect with the Palin pick, to try to divide the women vote again. However, Palin is not as an attractive candidate compared to Hillary. I was honestly interested in what she would bring as a VP candidate. However, as she stopped being a mystery and more and more information came out, I steadily lost interest. With all the interviews she’s done with major networks, she’s gone from the pretty face in the GOP, to the pretty face that says very unattractive things in terms of being VP. For starters, if you literally say something in an interview that is so ridiculous that SNL can put it in a skit and it doesn’t seem to separate itself from the rest of the dialogue, you’ve got to be hurting politically. So as many women want to have one of their own in the White House, I hope the ones who intend on voting can seperate voting the candidate they think will do well, and the candidate who would just make history because of her gender.
I find it quite interesting that people are already dismissing Sarah Palin from the Vice Presidency as if she is stepping down. I also find it out of their arena (at least the authors) to even start making excuses for why Palin would step down. The author has already dismissed someone who may have great potential. You can’t judge someone who you’ve know for only a few months. But I do understand that there is an election coming up very quickly and so judgment calls are being made. I also found it humorous that Katie Couric interviewed Palin. Couric was in the news and then got promoted with a much bigger pay check. Most people said that she was going to be fantastic and set her up to be someone great at reporting the news. Then when it was her turn to show what she had, she wasn’t everything the people had expected. The same fate seems to have come to Palin. I hope this won’t be the end for Sarah Palin, but right now it isn’t looking good. She doesn’t understand the full realm of politics and really doesn’t understand any policies. Well I also have to admit, neither do I. Palin has some great potential, this has already been proven as she is woman and trying to take on a task much more than she has ever experienced. How many people could take that on? I wish luck to Palin and a much smoother campaign.
I have to say, after reading this article and seeing clips of Palin’s speech I agree with the author completely. I was dismayed at the fact that people said we were not ready for a ‘woman president’ when Hilary Clinton rose to the occasion because your opinion should not be based on gender it should be about the true ideals the person contains. So when Pailin rose to the occasion, presenting a strong a persuasive speech at the Republican Convention it was refreshing. Even though I am against playing the “gender card”, I’m not going to deny that I felt a sense of woman power after that speech.
As always though, politics is a game; speeches are written by professionals and things are persuaded. We next get to see how Sarah does on her own during a few different interviews and the public is not impressed. Her stance on foreign policy was saying she could see Russia from her backyard and her lack of experience shows through her “unanswered” answers and unorganized comments. The fact of the matter is, McCain picking Palin because she can wear high heels and red lipstick like the half of the U.S. population, might have worked for a bit, but in the long run she will bring down the McCain campaign. Not to say that she is stupid, but she lacks the credibility to possibly run our country in case McCain croaks.
The only true evidence will be in the V.P. debate on Thursday and that is when we truly see her capabilities.
As the democrats said from the beginning, Palen may have been appealing, both physically and as a breath of fresh air, but she has no substance. Palen and McCain have often criticized Obama, saying that he never fully answers a question during his interviews. Even if this were the case, Obama has clearly made more objective statements that Palen ever has. From the first quote listed in this article saying, “well there is danger…. to deal with this issue”. She continues on and on in a very contradictory and wordy passage that ultimately never states what the problem truly is. Is she referring to the economy? Is she referring to the war? What problem is she actually defending and does she really know what she’s talking about? We never got that answer. Palen consistently displays these kinds of misinterpretations and lacking of substance, which makes the country really wonder if she is ready to lead the senate, or god forbid to lead the country. It would seem as though this problem of hers would be an easy fix; all she has to do is state what she is talking about. However, if she cannot find the ability to fulfill such an easy task as to clarifying what she’s talking about, then it should surely be quite clear how unknowledgeable and unqualified she is for the job of VP or President if McCain dies.
I must start by saying I did not see the conclusion of this article coming. The author thinks Palin should resign her spot, hmmm, I highly doubt that is going to happen. Bowing out would make her look weak and show lack of self confidence. From a political point of view it could be suicide for political career. Plus it would also be a reflection of John McCain’s bad decision making and thus costing him the election.
Palin is an outstanding person. She is or should be a role model for women of all kind. She is a strong woman and on the surface would make an excellent President of the United States; however she is just too inexperienced. I know that there isn’t one person who is ever completely qualified to be President, but Palin is lacking so of the key things needed (if she were to be put in that position). There is no doubt she is witty and can easily dodge questions; however that is not what America needs. She knows virtually nothing about the economy or foreign policy or the War in Iraq. She could make the country tank (if worst comes to worst and McCain dies). I’m not saying Biden is a good alternative, but at least he appears to know what he is talking about.
I’ve never liked Palin, mostly because she was only chosen to attract women’s votes. McCain should have chosen somebody who knows about the economy and knows about foreign policy and is actually qualified to be Vice President or even President. But he didn’t, he had to choose this random governor from Alaska only because she was a woman. It’s like he didn’t even look to see if she was qualified for the job he just said in his mind ‘If I choose that woman from Alaska I can win the election, people are dumb enough to vote for her just because she is a woman’ That is seriously how I think McCain decided this. He thought it would be good strategy. Like we’re that dumb and just vote for him because Palin could be the first ever female Vice President America has ever had. Now, I wonder if he regrets choosing her after these recent interviews. She has truly shown that she knows nothing about the economy and that she doesn’t have any experience for being VP of our nation. If she decides to drop out of the race now, well good for her because she is just embarrassing herself now. It might be too late though. And if she did drop out, I wonder who McCain would choose next.
Palin made a great first impression at the Republican National Convention. She was the biggest cause of the huge Republican bounce in the polls. After hearing her speech I was amazed at how confident and sure of herself she seemed, even after coming out of nowhere and being thrown on to the world stage. However, after the convention I read articles and heard newscasters that predicted her demise, and said that her confidence would not last long. As it turns out, their predictions were correct.
John McCain obviously shared similar thoughts. As of two weeks ago, Obama’s vice presidential candidate, Joe Biden, had been interviewed over eighty times, while Palin’s interview count was less than five. This shows McCain’s hesitancy to let Palin loose. It also shows that he doesn’t trust her any more than the media or the public does.
Along with others who have posted on this article, I feel the same way as the author does. Palin has been walking on thin ice during her interviews throughout the past couple weeks. She has left the audience on thin ice as well; every clip I see I find myself listening for the slightest mistake. Until she starts proving herself, the public will keep an eye on everything she does or says, just waiting for disaster.
I am glad to see that I am not the only guy that commented on this article. I do agree on a lot of points though with this guy that wrote the article. When John McCain picked Sarah Palin as his running mate I was completely and utterly surprised thinking he had made a huge mistake. I was even more impressed when she gave her speech at the Republican National Convention and blew everybody away by how well she spoke and how likable she was. That continued for a couple weeks after the Convention and this was shown in the polls as McCain jumped ahead of Obama for the first time. But everything settled back to reality and the American people finally pulled the wool from over their eyes and realized that she had no substance and just wasn’t the woman for the job. I mean I agree with the guy fully, I was rooting for her after her convention speech but she has hurt herself in the time since them by not giving any interviews, and when she does give interviews she screws up. For McCain to have any chance she needs to either do extremely well in the debate tomorrow or she needs to remove herself from the ticket. I am sure that Sarah Palin is a great person, but I don’t think she is right for the Vice Presidential position.
Wow! That was one hard shot below the belt, which is interesting because Palin is a woman. But this journalist constantly shot down Palin; time after time again, spewing out what every Pro-Palin supported didn’t want to hear. “My cringe reflex is exhausted.” Palin half the time does not even know what she is talking about. Just from reading the quotes in the article it was hard to follow along with what she was blabbing about. All she did was repeat and repeat herself. This Vice Presidential debate will be so confusing. The only way she could probably win is by talking so much that she confuses Biden.
Palin tries to get media attention and seem involved in foreign politics by attending the United Nations meeting. So what if she goes to the meeting. She probably didn’t even know what was going on!
People need to think about what the Vice President has in store for them. Yes they don’t do much but be the President of the Senate, but also they have the possibility to be the actual President. Senator McCain is so freaking old who knows when he will go? If he happens to during his term in office, certain doom is to come. Yes, Palin has “executive experience”, but it’s Alaska. One of the largest states but there is hardly anything there and nothing happens.
“McCain can’t repudiate his choice for running mate. He not only risks the wrath of the GOP’s unforgiving base, but he invites others to second-guess his executive decision-making ability” (Parker). The previous statement basically sums up what most Americans have been considering these past few weeks. Will we ever know if Palin was a good choice for the Republican VP ticket? I give her credit since she is an established, sophisticated, and overall appealing woman and mother. I suppose my main concern right now is the issue of McCain’s old-age status. If McCain dies in office or before inauguration, will the country be ready for such an inexperienced person as Palin to take over? However, I agree with the notion that McCain make a smart decision in choosing Palin as his VP nomination, since her inexperience counteracts that of Barack Obama. Hence, McCain’s strategy is pretty clear up to this point: would you rather have an inexperienced president or vice president holding office? The optimistic voters may choose to support Obama since he will be hopefully surrounded by experienced and knowledgeable cabinet members. The more pessimistic voters may concern themselves with McCain’s old age, thus denying their votes to him since they do not want Palin to take over if such tragedy occurs. All theories pushed aside, it may have still been a smart decision on the part of John McCain to choose Palin as his running mate since many dismayed Hillary supports are entirely reluctant to vote for Barack Obama, even though that means basically handing over potential Democratic votes to the Republican party. With the economic fiasco occurring right now, McCain and Palin are even further disadvantaged since Barack Obama is seen as the leader of economic recovery.
When I first heard that Palin was McCain’s running mate I was thrilled, not only thrilled that we are going to go down in history no matter what president is elected, but because we now have a chance to see something for the first time, what a woman would do with the country in her hands. Palin comes off as a strong willed, confident, family oriented woman, and I believe that she is. Like Kathrine said, should another woman be running in place of Palin? Since she is the “wrong woman”? Why does it matter that she is a woman as long as she has the country’s best interest at heart and as long as she is prepared to protect our rights and serve us to her best ability… is that not the same exact thing Biden is promising us? Do we have trouble accepting the fact that a woman is saying the SAME things the men have said for years and years? It’s not like she’s coming out there and saying how she doesn’t believe in the country and that she doesn’t care about the outcomes, she does care. Can we not hold her to the same standards of a man?
I have to agree with this author. I remember when I first heard that McCain had announced Palin as his running mate – my mom and I were on an airplane and she picked up someone’s discarded newspaper on the floor of our seat, and there was Palin’s face on the front page. I was so eager to read the article; she was pretty and had to be smart, and she was a woman. I never liked Hillary Clinton at all, and so I got excited at the prospect of being able to support a woman in the white house. But as I began to read the article, a feeling of dismay began to make me feel so heavy that I didn’t think the plane was going to take off. She is just one of those super-republican people, and while that could be viewed as strengthening McCain’s ticket if she were A MAN, a majority of people in the United States will never support the type of ball-busting woman that she is. A man would be considered strong; she is going to be considered a witch. And now as everyone has seen, not only is she ultra conservative, but she is obviously unqualified and unequipped for the presidency. Even her party knows it, that’s why they won’t let her talk. They know that she is going to screw it up. I do not, however, believe that it would benefit McCain if she dropped out of the race because she has already acquired a group of die hard supporters, who will most likely not vote at all if she decides not to run for VP. McCain would suffer in the end.
I have to admit. I,too, am a little disappointed with Palin. I had a small glimmer of hope for the republicans to win just so she could make history being the first woman on the republican ticket who made the vice presidency. However, recent events have led I, and others who may or may not side with the republicans, to doubt her competency. She doesn’t sound or appear very intelligent or informed during interviews, though it’s not like we should judge her solely on that. However, she also can’t be judged on her executive experience either. One really doesn’t have executive experience until the actaual job of president has been obtained. It really is a job that is unlike any other. Unlike a governor or a mayor, you don’t answer to any one person. You are, in a way, alpha and omega. The presidency has increased its power throughout the years to the point where it’s relatively powerful in the scope of the whole governmental system.
So is there really anything that qualifies any of the candidates to be president? It’s really not just Palin and her youth and inexperience. They all are in a way. She’s just singled out. If she and McCain did win, though, she’d have plenty of opportunities to learn from events that take place and gain a stronger stance on such things as foreign policy and the such. Then she’ll turn into a great politician. Only time will tell. Don’t put the whole cart before the horse.
In response to Johanna:
I disagree with the assumption that this could be the end for Sarah Palin. She does have great potential and will make a great Vice President. I think that this downturn in popularity has a lot to do with a version of the bandwagon effect. The media, yes I do blame it on the media, started attacking her the moment she stepped on the stage for not having enough experience. They talked her down to no end and were not censored in the least. (I always find it funny that we are not allowed to censor the press because that would be an infringement on their right to free speech and yet they can censor any comments, and for that matter put them together in any way they wish, without it being an infringement on the quoted person’s free speech… very odd) People saw this media attention and ASSUMED that she was not qualified to be vice president. She has more executive experience then the other three candidates combined! I also don’t agree with the assumption that Palin is not all that she was hyped up to be. In fact, I think she is much more then they said. She is strong in her stances and will stand her grand against morally wrong issues that the democrats advocate. This being said, she is willing to compromise on issues that deal with the greater good for society. In Alaska she passed legislation where she wanted to lower taxes even more but passed the bill in order to provide any tax cuts at all for the citizens of Alaska. She is NOT corrupt and will fight corruption in Washington. It is so frustrating that all politics is about anymore is money, money, and, oh, more money. Sarah Palin is a breath of fresh air, literally and figuratively, Alaska has extremely fresh air, and this woman believes that she will make a great, strong, and competent Vice President.
Well, I agree with the author. I was quite intrigued when John McCain picked Sarah Palin as his running mate. Now, I agree she isn’t doing all that well. Sarah Palin is clearly out of her league. McCain was clearly hoping that he could ride a Palin bounce to the presidency. She created an initial surge that allowed for John McCain to surge ahead in the polls. Then she opened her mouth and people saw that she is not as she first appeared. She doesn’t really know what she was talking about. She doesn’t even know what her own running mate has done. In her interview with Katie Couric, when asked what John McCain has done on a certain issue she said “I’m not really sure, but I’ll look it up and get back to you”. I cannot express in words my agreement when the author says she is a woman “who is clearly out of her league”. And that quote is coming from a conservative writer. If a conservative woman says that Palin is out of her league and needs to step out of the ticket, then something is clearly wrong. McCain’s pick at V.P. is coming back to haunt him.
“…Palin was introduced as just a hockey mom with lipstick…”. First of all, I think it should be “pit-bull with lipstick”, but that is beside the point. What ever happened to those “pit-bull” like qualities? I don’t know about any of you guys, but I have never seen a pit-bull dodge questions and talk themselves in circles.
“Well, there is a danger in allowing some obsessive partisanship…with an issue like this.”… What does that even mean? Palin clearly does not say ANYTHING in this response, and is doing a horrid job at attempting to articulately dodge a question, like what the Republicans accuse Obama of doing.
Palin running for V.P. is a good and bad thing. On one hand, you have the opportunity for a woman to become a V.P., and maybe even a the “ruler of the free world”. I mean, that is progression from the good ol’ days in which women were merely housewives with no potential for advancement. On the other hand, and the author makes a good point of this, Palin represents anti-progression. To most people Palin just seems to be used as a political tool, a piece of “eye-candy”. People can’t take her seriously as a V.P. when a portion of Americans see Palin’s nomination as a “sham”.
People need to get over their notions of sexism/racism and vote for a candidate with substance and ideas with effectiveness.
I want to point out first that Kathleen Parker, the author, is a well-known Conservative journalist, and she’s not just putting down Palin because she’s rooting for the opposite party. I respect Parker for facing the bitter facts, and summing up the entire ordeal with Palin in this line, “It was fun while it lasted.” Indeed it was. Palin at first glance was everything that was being looked for; a fresh face, family oriented, conservative, and female. It’s quite obvious that despite the cards she brought to the table originally, she is one “Who Is Clearly Out Of Her League.” Note that, the last quote has capitalized every word. There’s an extreme emphasis that Palin is most definitely out of her area of expertise. Maybe she was great for Alaska, but Washington is not going to be the place for her to excel. She is a politician whose core relies upon energy issues, which is only one issue of the many to important ones to deal with.
In all of her interviews, she dodges questions, and even in the Vice Presidential debate, she couldn’t answer in clearly or at all. “She repeats words, filling space with deadwood. Cut the verbiage and there’s not much content there.” Is that the sort of person we want to elect with McCain? A woman who can only babble about this and that with no real substance? In one of her interviews with Katie Couric she couldn’t even answer some questions about McCain’s history in the senate. She really is, the wrong woman for the job.
I chose this article for the title, and I was not disappointed. In fact, I was both pleased and entertained. I find it satisfying that sexism may not play as big of a role in this election as I once thought it would. And whether or not that is because America is becoming a better nation or just the plain fact that even a blind feminist can see right through Palin, I am contented. It is most definitely a hopeful shift in this election.
What may even be more encouraging is now all Palin has is her estrogen to gain support. (A close second may be her physical appearance. I mean, who can deny that she is not an attractive women for her age despite having a few kids? She certainly looks nice next to that dinosaur)
But you know, I do like one thing about the woman: she’s stupid. That may sound harsh, but soon we’ll all come to admit it. I mean, did anyone watch the debate tonight? “I am more than prepared to be president if necessary because of my executive experience with raising a retard.” (A parody of her response to her challenged inexperience and how she included that she was the mother of a special needs child). “I love the gays; I have a lesbian couple on my Christmas card list.” (Refers to her statement about having gay “dear” friends when asked to comment on gay rights). But what I enjoy about that stupidity is that you can’t hate her like you can hate other heartless Republicans. Like Bush, she just doesn’t know.