To Support Or Not To Support. That Is Not The Question, As I See It

I have become a bit Sarah Palin obsessed.

Those YouTube videos of Palin speaking at her church? Seen 'em. The propaganda video her church put out? Seen it. Reports about the trooper involved in the ethics investigation against Palin? Discussions and debates between those on the political media circuit? Watched 'em all. All. Our television is permanently set to CNN these days -- and has been on approximately 450% more than during a normal week.

It might explain my persistent headache.

But I can sum up my week of schooling myself on this governor from Alaska in these words: of Sarah Palin, I am not a fan.

The lovely e, who is so wise and who writes so beautifully, commented to me as such:

I am a liberal feminist grateful for the likes of Governor Palin. Look, feminism has been strangled by my liberal sisters. Without a few conservative feminists we will never advance an equality agenda. Every woman at the top of the ticket or the head of the boardroom raises all boats. When Maggie Thatcher was PM British women's wages outpaced ours by 3 to 1. If we are to advance civil rights for women, (equal pay is still a myth for middle class women, and the lower middle class suffers a much worse dichotomy), then we need to embrace all kinds of women. So, strangely perhaps, I welcome her little creation loving, tax cutting, anti-choice self to the conversation...

E's words caused me to pause and think. Do I owe it to womankind to support any woman attempting to join that ol' boys' club? Do I need to support a woman, even in the abstract, because she is a woman? Do I need to look at this long-term?

Hmm.

For as much as I want to see that glass ceiling shatter into pieces, I cannot agree that any woman in any position of power is a good thing across the board. In my view, to support a woman simply because she is a woman, actually hurts "the cause". It encourages lines to be drawn, encourages the idea of "us" and "them". To support a woman, even in the abstract, because she is a woman, keeps the focus on gender, when taking that spotlight away is what we all want to see, is it not?

I don't support Sarah Palin simply because she is a woman any more than I would expect a black man to support Barack Obama simply because he is a black man.

Sarah Palin is not and never will be Hillary Clinton. She is not Barbara Boxer. But even on the conservative side of the coin, she is also not Condoleezza Rice, Sandra Day O'Connor nor Christine Todd Whitman. There are many brilliant women, brilliant conservative women, I would have supported, in the abstract, on John McCain's ticket. Women with whom I disagree on many issues, but I for whom I have respect. After Sarah Palin's speech at the Republican National Convention, I was left without even an underlying respect or begrudging admiration.

It's not her politics, though they do frighten me.

It's not whether a mother of five should take on this job. That is a decision for Sarah Palin and her husband to make and no one else gets a say in the matter.

It is definitely not that I do not welcome a conservative woman to the conversation.

It is that this particular woman has shut down conversation. She belittled good work done by a good man, she sneered at hope and mocked a hand reaching out to help. Rather than using her position to inspire and energize, she used it to demean and to demonize. She put someone else down, to pull herself up. Now she is being "shielded" by the McCain camp.

I tuned in to watch Sarah Palin speak last Wednesday night, precisely because I was interested in conversation, but Sarah Palin left no room for conversation. I cannot and do not respect that in a person. Any person. Man or woman. And yet another president (or potential president) I do not respect is not something I can easily swallow. Not even for the sake of watching that ceiling come crashing down.