Meteoric Sarah

She burst onto the political scene as the incandescent center of the Republican campaign, outshining both Obama and her running mate. Her star has faded somewhat, now that the McCain ticket seems doomed to defeat tomorrow. Yet she has expressed her desire to continue as a leader of her party no matter the outcome of the election. Her many supporters would support her in a a quest to become the first female president in 2012.

She is undeniably formidable. It have become trite, but it's true nonetheless, to say that she is a talented politician. Barring some misfortune or horrendous mistake on her part, we will be hearing from her for years.

Let no one doubt that she speaks for an important element of our polity, despite her increasing lack of appeal to many. This is one of the striking things about her. It was noted by several commentators in September that people in her audience wanted someone in office who was just like them. A friend of mine noted that she (my friend) wanted anyone but someone like herself to be making major decisions for this country. That had me thinking. The truth is that most of my friends would be comfortable in an extended conversation with Obama. I would be delighted. No, we are not half African, we did not grow up in Hawaii and Indonesia. All the same, we speak the same language. We think in similar ways. We have much the same perspective on this country and its problems.

I can't say the same about Palin. Despite having the same skin color, despite coming from suburban America as she does, she is foreign to me. But not to others. We can't dismiss those others as ill informed, unthinking Know-Nothings. My friends, and I, tend to do that. Indeed, the school that two of my kids go to has just sent out a letter urging respect for all political opinions. I have no doubt that it was Republicans who were being dissed, as if there were something unseemly in supporting the hero and the hockey mom. But those who applauded Palin as a kindred soul have a perspective that must be respected and should be understood. I confess to finding the latter difficult.

Palin herself does not help. She is bright, but uncurious. She is a brilliant speaker, but her speeches are concatenated assertions that only hint at argument. Her world is Manichean, divided between those who are good and those who are not. The line she draws between truth and falsehood is thin.

Consequently, it is not clear how much of what she says she believes. It is not clear how much has been thought through. We don't know how much she knows. The only thing consistent in her words and her actions is ambition. Those opacities make it difficult to understand the source of her appeal to those who seek someone just like them.

Yet we owe it to ourselves and our country to do just that, particularly if Obama triumphs, as now seems likely. Peter Beinart, writing in The Washington Post this morning, called Palin the "Last of the Culture Warriors." That seems too optimistic by half. Should the Republicans lose, a savage battle for the soul of the GOP can be expected to follow. Palin can be expected to be in the middle of it. Her defeat in that battle cannot be assumed. Her victory could be disastrous for both the Republican Party and the polity as a whole. Coolly dismissing those to whom she gives voice may bring that disaster upon us.