Dear Rachael,

The problem with Palin, in part, is that she's incredibly arrogant. She openly dismisses the value of education, hard work, and intellectual pursuits. She's smug enough to believe that she, alone, should be above the vetting process for vice president. She's the homecoming queen mocking the smart kids, sneering at the poor kids, making snide comments about the kids who weren't lucky enough to be on the top of the ladder in her little world. She has---and quite gleefully---turned the vice presidential election into a high school popularity contest.

Palin never ONCE acknowledges---anywhere---that her record is thin, her experience limited, her knowledge of foreign affairs nonexistent. Instead, she labels everyone who dares to question her credentials an "elitist." She derides everyone with a "big fat resume." She says she "doesn't have time for the thesaurus." If only she showed one glimmer, anywhere, of modesty, or humility, or a sense that the world is a big place and she'd be privileged to learn more about it...

But instead, she's convinced that she's plenty good enough. No learning, no growing for her: she's perfect just as she is, and those who hint, even gently, that she might want to expand her horizons are dismissed as "liberal media elite."

I find her whole attitude offensive in the extreme. It suggests that real academic diligence, genuine cultural and global awareness, and nuanced perspective are not only unnecessary for a vice presidential candidate, but are actually mockworthy.

Whatever one may think of Barack Obama---and I happen to have several concerns about him, as well---I have rarely, if ever, seen him give a wholly incoherent answer to an important policy question. He has made statements with which I strongly disagreed. But they were not, for the most part, preposterous in the way Palin's were. He has certainly never intoned that intelligence and hard work were liabilities.

It is Palin's smugness and her sense of entitlement to the vice presidency---NOT her conservative viewpoint---that so enrages many people, including me. Had McCain chosen Kay Bailey Hutchison, for instance, he would have provoked none of the same outrage and anguished concern for the country's future. Shame on John McCain. He could not have failed more clearly to put his country first.

Great post.

Bravo. Thank you for this post. Many of the XX commentaries on "that woman" seem to just happily go along with her manufactured "in praise of small" message loops. I grew up in small towns. I went to high school with women like Ms. Palin. You have underscored what several XX writers seem unwilling to discuss: Palin's peculiar blend of ignorance/confidence. Her lack of curiosity and her sureness in her sense of self. Ugh. As a poet and as a small town/small city/non NYC resident, i can't imagine making a virtue of the Palin Doctrine. Why is it that only the XX discussion section carries any meaningful analysis of "what's wrong with Palin"?

She openly dismisses the value of education, hard work, and intellectual pursuits.

Hmm...really? When? When she made fun of "community organizers?"

"many of the XX commentaries..."?? What planet are you on? The harpies on this blog have been absolutely *vile* in attacking this woman and her family.

hyperionred:

She openly dismisses the value of education, hard work, and intellectual pursuits.

Hmm...really? When? When she made fun of "community organizers?"

To second this question, she's routinely lambasted for attending many colleges - apparently she felt education was important. She works hard - after all she didn't get her elected positions riding her husband's coattails. and dismisses intellectual pursuits? She apparently wants MORE discussion in the classroom, not less. Looks like 0 for 3 here.

Bondsman:

hyperionred:

She openly dismisses the value of education, hard work, and intellectual pursuits.

Hmm...really? When? When she made fun of "community organizers?"

To second this question, she's routinely lambasted for attending many colleges - apparently she felt education was important. She works hard - after all she didn't get her elected positions riding her husband's coattails. and dismisses intellectual pursuits? She apparently wants MORE discussion in the classroom, not less. Looks like 0 for 3 here.

She didn't feel education was important. She felt a degree was important. If she felt that strongly about education, it wouldn't have taken her five colleges to get a degree.

She doesn't want more discussion in the classroom. She wants more discussion about religion in the classroom. Huge difference.

Yes and when she wrinkles her nose and talks about the "elite," as though being educated is somehow disdainful. When she talks about travel as though it is something only rich people can do and not for the purpose of learning about another culture/people.

Yes. It's this kind of anti-intellectualism that is so grating. She seems to be saying that education is a bad thing. That too much critical thinking is bad. That anyone who is the least bit different (non-christian, non-conservative and maybe even non-white?) is not a "real American."

It's disgusting.

progressivebulldog:

Yes. It's this kind of anti-intellectualism that is so grating. She seems to be saying that education is a bad thing. That too much critical thinking is bad. That anyone who is the least bit different (non-christian, non-conservative and maybe even non-white?) is not a "real American."

It's disgusting.

What has she said that makes you feel that way? Seriously, quotes or it didn't happen.

"She didn't feel education was important. She felt a degree was important. If she felt that strongly about education, it wouldn't have taken her five colleges to get a degree."

That's some pretty horrible logic right there. Many successful people have gone through a number of schools to find the right fit. It says nothing about your intellectual seriousness or how you feel about education.

"Yes and when she wrinkles her nose and talks about the "elite," as though being educated is somehow disdainful."

Being an elite has nothing to do with being educated. I would be disdainful too if I were her. If you look through her history, she's been discounted and underestimated throughout her entire career, mostly by those in the media and the entrenched political elite. Her entire career has been about upending those who think they deserve office instead of her because of gender, connections, or power.

"When she talks about travel as though it is something only rich people can do and not for the purpose of learning about another culture/people."

But to a large extent, it is something that relatively rich people do. Sure, there are middle class people who travel, but working class people with families rarely go overseas. Who can afford plane fare and hotel for a family of five when you're solidly middle class? Sure, I've traveled, but I don't have kids and I do have a job with lots of time for vacation. Not everyone has that, and not everyone can spend thousands of dollars for travel when there are more important concerns like health care or tuition.

To follow on the travel issue, I get pretty annoyed by those who look down on fellow Americans who haven't traveled. Plenty of people want to travel but don't have the time or means to do so. It's incredibly elitist to sneer at such people as simply lacking the inclination or curiousity to travel. And it's really a very empty kind of elitism too. It doesn't take any great skill or talent to buy an airplane ticket and a guide book. Besides, way too many people these days travel for the sake of vanity, pumping enormous amounts of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere so they can brag about hanging out with natives in the Amazon.

He has certainly never intoned that intelligence and hard work were liabilities.

Cakegirl, I am not sure what you are talking about. Could you provide a quote? Everything I have heard Palin say personally has been the exact opposite of your statement. She herself has gotten to her position as Governor through hardwork and intelligence. She had to fight the entrenched establishment to be elected. She was not appointed, she was not hired, she was not grandfathered in. Obama on the other hand has been hand picked by party members to fill the position he is currently in. He stabbed his good friend and mentor in the back and had her kicked off the ballot to win his first public election to the Illinois state legislature. Whereas Palin went after crooked members of her own party, Obama actively used and benefited from the cronism of Chicago politics. Palin is anti-elitest in the best sense of the word, in that she is against the entitlement that certain groups believe they have due to advantages life has given them. Just last year I was wondering if we would ever have a president again who did not attend an Ivy league university, it has become so expected. Is that anti-intellectual to have the desire to see anothe Lincoln or Truman? Why can't a politician decide sometime after age 21 that they would like to go into public life. Why must one's entire life be scripted from puberty inorder to qualify to become president? Why is the experiences of running a government both as governor and mayor somehow discounted unless you have an Arab billionaire to get you into Harvard law? That is the kind of elitism that deserves to be hated. I truly hate it.

hyperionred:

She openly dismisses the value of education, hard work, and intellectual pursuits.

Hmm...really? When? When she made fun of "community organizers?"

In her acceptance speech at the Republican National Convention on Sept 3:

"Before I became governor of the great state of Alaska, I was mayor of my hometown.

And since our opponents in this presidential election seem to look down on that experience, let me explain to them what the job involves.

I guess a small-town mayor is sort of like a "community organizer," except that you have actual responsibilities."

Right there. It was just a bit more than a month ago, remember?

Yes, I do remember that statement, though I don't think it suppports the accusation that she dismisses the value of intelligence and hard work. Rather I think she is pointing out that being a mayor of a small town requires intelligence and hard work just as being a community organizer does, however you must answer to the people who elected you in the end if you don't live up to your responsibilities. Community organizers do not have the same respopnsibilities as elected positions such as Mayors and Governors. They are not required to balance budgets, arrange for infrastructure projects, etc. So, in my opinion she was correct but nevertheless she was really only responding in kind to the attacks which had been made against her. Yet she never said a negative word about the value of education, travel, reading newspapers, etc. That is all just made up crap.