It’s been interesting to see the reactions to Sarah Palin from England. Those on the Left over there don’t like her any more than the Left over here does, of course, but since she’s less of a direct threat to them, there’s definitely less of the hysteria that has driven efforts to club her to death like a baby seal. That’s provided more room for intelligent commentary—and also, interestingly, for voices asking, “WHY, why, why can’t WE have a Sarah Palin?” In Fergus Shanahan’s case, his lament seems primarily the result of a British political scene “as grey and dull as the leaden September skies. It’s dire”; but others are expressing the same wish for more substantive reasons. The title of Melanie Phillips’ column in the Daily Mail says it all, I think: “Contempt, apathy and lies—why Britain is crying out for our own ‘pitbull with lipstick.'”
There are millions who long for a conservative defence of Britain and its values by a leader they respect and admire. Sarah Palin may well turn out to be Middle America’s revenge on its elites. Middle Britain is watching—and hoping that it will now be hunting season against the moose of the British Left, too.
Perhaps the best British piece on Gov. Palin was James Bennett’s article in the Telegraph pointing out how different her small-town background is in Alaskan politics than it would be most places:
Having worked with Alaskans, I know something of the challenge she has faced, and why—contrary to what Democrats think—it could make her a powerful figure in the White House.The first myth to slay is that she is a political neophyte who has come from nowhere. In fact, she and her husband have, for decades, run a company in the highly politicised commercial fishing industry, where holding on to a licence requires considerable nous and networking skills.Her rise from parent-teacher association to city council gave her a natural political base in her home town of Wasilla. Going on to become mayor was a natural progression. Wasilla’s population of 9,000 would be a small town in Britain, and even in most American states. But Wasilla is the fifth-largest city in Alaska, which meant that Palin was an important player in state politics.Her husband’s status in the Yup’ik Eskimo tribe, of which he is a full, or “enrolled” member, connected her to another influential faction: the large and wealthy (because of their right to oil revenues) native tribes.
In other words, Sarah Palin was actually already well involved in statewide politics in Alaska even before she ran for lieutenant governor in 2002. As such,
Far from being a reprise of Mr Smith Goes to Washington, Palin was a clear-eyed politician who, from the day she took office, knew exactly what she had to do and whose toes she would step on to do it. The surprise is not that she has been in office for such a short time but that she has succeeded in each of her objectives. She has exposed corruption; given the state a bigger share in Alaska’s energy wealth; and negotiated a deal involving big corporate players, the US and Canadian governments, Canadian provincial governments, and native tribes—the result of which was a £13 billion deal to launch the pipeline and increase the amount of domestic energy available to consumers. This deal makes the charge of having “no international experience” particularly absurd.In short, far from being a small-town mayor concerned with little more than traffic signs, she has been a major player in state politics for a decade, one who formulated an ambitious agenda and deftly implemented it against great odds.
Bennett also raises a very interesting point about the reaction of Gov. Palin’s enemies in Alaska to her nomination (one which makes a great deal of sense out of some of the stories we’ve seen):
Her sudden elevation to the vice-presidential slot on the Republican ticket shocked no one more than her enemies in Alaska, who have broken out into a cold sweat at the thought of Palin in Washington, guiding the Justice Department’s anti-corruption teams through the labyrinths of Alaska’s old-boy network.It is no surprise that many of the charges laid against her have come from Alaska, as her enemies become more and more desperate to bring her down. John McCain was familiar with this track record and it is no doubt the principal reason that he chose her.
Who would ever have thought that Alaskan politics would become a subject for international analysis?Surely not Ted Stevens.