Sarah Palin is the Israel of American Politics
By Aaron Goldstein (11/13/08)
Sarah Palin has supplanted George W. Bush as the most polarizing figure in American politics. This despite the fact Bush has not yet left the White House.
She is someone that does not inspire feelings of indifference or neutrality. You either love Palin or you hate her.
Those who love Sarah Palin will drive hundreds of miles in inclement weather and wait for hours on end just to hear her speak.
Those who hate Sarah Palin will go to the ends of the earth to destroy her.
If Sarah Palin were a member state of the UN she would be condemned daily by the General Assembly for transgressions both real and imagined. This, in part, makes Sarah Palin the Israel of American politics.
Those who hate Israel are prepared to believe any unkind word said about it. If Israel haters are told that Israelis use the blood of Palestinian children to make Purim pastries they accept it as the gospel truth. Those who hate Sarah Palin are prepared to believe any unkind word said about her. When unnamed sources from the McCain campaign were alleged to have said that Palin didn’t know Africa was a continent the Palin haters accepted it as an article of faith. Never mind that Palin led an effort to have Alaska divest its holdings in the Darfur region of Sudan. Those who hate Palin are not interested in the truth. They are interested only in seeing grievous harm come to her and, if need be, her family.
Some of the disdain directed towards Palin has all the quality of high school gossip. How else does one explain the story that Palin allegedly answered the door to her hotel room wearing only a bathrobe? When that wasn’t sensational enough it was then said that Palin answered the door wearing only a towel. I would not be surprised if it is alleged that Palin was in the hotel room partying with the Rolling Stones a la Margaret Trudeau. It would be funny if it weren’t so frightening.
People who hate are irrational. When people are irrational they will believe any and every negative thing tossed down the chute regardless of its merit and feasbility. They believe such things because they want to believe them. If you throw enough mud against the wall some of it will stick. This mud represents the debris of hate. Unfortunately, it is this debris that fertilizes the seeds of doubt the haters have planted. When it fertilizes otherwise decent people begin to believe as fact things that are indisputably false. This is the essence of hatred. If something is said loud enough and often enough people will come to believe it without question. If it is fertilized with enough intensity people will act on these false beliefs with tragic consequences. My people paid the highest price imaginable for the fertilization of hatred. Fortunately, Sarah Palin and her family have not been met with any violence (so far.) But make no mistake. There are people who hate Sarah Palin enough that they would be overjoyed if she or her family members were physically, if not fatally attacked.
It is perhaps fitting that a small Israeli flag is mounted on the window of Governor Palin’s office. If nothing else it is surely a testament to her moral fiber. The Israeli flag symbolizes a nation that rose out of the fertilized ashes of hatred that stoked the Holocaust. The Israeli flag symbolizes a people who were knocked down and counted out but got back up bigger and stronger than before. Israel succeeds despite the wishes of those who want it to die.
In this respect, Sarah Palin is the Israel of American politics in another way. While there are those who wish to see Palin excised from political life it doesn’t prevent her from carrying forward and working earnestly to make Alaska more prosperous and successful for its people. Sarah Palin is part of a long line of Alaskans who have accomplished on frozen tundra what Israelis have done in the desert. Although Alaskans do not have the kind of problems with their neighbors the Israelis have they too have thrived in less than hospitably optimal conditions.
What doesn’t kill Sarah Palin will make her stronger. There is some speculation that Palin might attempt to replace Ted Stevens in the U.S. Senate. But why become a Washington insider now? The liberal media and a handful of conservative critics won’t accept Palin as a junior Senator anymore than they accept her as a Governor. Just as Israel’s Muslim neighbors aren’t going to suddenly accept the Jewish state if a Palestinian one is created alongside it. Sarah Palin’s greatest chance for continued success and that of Alaska is to succeed on her own terms. She can build on her existing achievements by remaining Governor and running for re-election in 2010. If she can do this and it turns out Barack Obama isn’t the second coming then he would be wise watch out for her in 2012.
Much of the world would rejoice if Israel were to be wiped off the map. But guess what? The world has to deal with Israel whether it likes it or not. Israel is not going away. Much of the American liberal establishment plus a few conservatives on the cocktail circuit would rejoice if Sarah Palin were to be wiped off the political map. But guess what? The American liberal establishment and their tiny entourage of conservative fellow travelers have to deal with Sarah Palin whether they like it or not. Sarah Palin is not going away.
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