I haven't seen Sarah Palin's new reality show in which she frolics and cavorts about her might home state, but I have read about it. Hunting, fishing, climbing, bears, family, and a Ford F150. Sounds like America! The frontier! Manifest destiny!
Sounds a lot like what Vladimir Putin has been up to while Medvedev keeps the Russian seat of power warm for him: bear hunting, chopping wood shirtless, driving across Siberia in a new Lada, etc.
Although it lacked an explicit ideology of Manifest Destiny, Russia's self-image has always been defined by the seemingly limitless expanse of land that was theirs/there for the taking, and the associated natural resources. Neither Russia and Putin nor America and Palin lets itself get pushed around by a few metrosexuals with Priuses and yoga mats.
Palin is a woman of the people. They like her. Compare Bristol Palin on "Dancing with the Stars" making fun of mom vs. Hilary Clinton marrying a jewish kid in a yarmulke who works for Goldman Sachs at a multi-million dollar wedding in New York. Which plays better in Peoria? Palin can't control her daughter, right? Kids rebel. Who can't relate to that?
We underestimate Palin at our own peril.
No comments:
Post a Comment