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Palinism is Reaganism

Since the release of her new book entitled “Going Rogue” the popularity of Sarah Palin by her fans has hit stratospheric levels. Large and enthusiastic crowds have greeted her at each stop. The Associated Press dispatched eleven of their journalists just to research the book. And she even helped the almighty Oprah achieve her show’s highest ratings in over two years.

 

However, some people still do not understand the essence of Palin’s popularity. That was made very evident in the past couple of weeks by viewing the popular left-stream news magazine ‘Newsweek’. In its November 23^rd edition, writer Evan Thomas tries to portray Palin as being a huge problem for the Republican Party, contrasting her with other popular GOP icons Ronald Reagan and Dwight Eisenhower. 

 

Then in the magazine’s November 30^th edition, Howard Fineman tries to compare current president Barack Obama with Reagan, and makes the argument that Obama actually tries to channel Reagan as a source of inspiration. But let us make one thing very clear right now - Obama is absolutely nothing compared to Reagan. Not even close. And it is exactly what makes Obama and Reagan so different which also explains what is making Palin so popular.

 

In the article from Thomas, he suggests Palin is a hard-line conservative who is unwilling to reach to the middle far less to the liberal left in order to reach consensus. On the flip side, Thomas implies that Reagan (and Eisenhower) did just that. However, that is simply not true.  Reagan was very much a staunch conservative politically, fiscally and socially. In that regard, he and Palin are very much alike.

 

Reagan’s appeal to the middle and to those ‘Reagan Democrats’ was not his policies but rather his optimism and more so his ‘Americanism.’ When Reagan went abroad he did not apologize for America like Obama has done, but instead he sold America as the best brand available in the world. He was completely unabashed in his pride for America and he was strong, forceful and vocal in his disdain for communism and other perceived evils in the world. Contrast that with how Obama presents America abroad and bows to leaders of communist states.

 

Reagan stood at the Brandenburg Gate with the leader of the Soviet Union sitting near him and told Mikhail Gorbachev to tear down that wall. Obama, on the other hand, sat silently as Daniel Ortega, the president of Nicaragua, berated the United States during the Summit of Americas back in April. Rather than defend his nation, Obama sought only to defend himself by declaring that he hoped Ortega was not blaming him for things that occurred when he was just a toddler.

 

Suffice it to say that Ortega would not have done the same had it been Reagan sitting in the room with him instead of Obama. And even if he did, Reagan would have leapt to America’s defense as soon as he had the opportunity. The same would be true of Palin, and that is why people feel so passionately about her.

 

In pretty much every interview that Palin has given, at some point she talks with great passion and pride about her native state of Alaska. She makes it sound like the most magical place in the world and the hottest vacation destination imaginable. Of course, at some point reality for the listeners/viewers sets in and they realize that she is actually talking about a sparsely-populated, extremely cold frozen wasteland of a state. But she certainly has a knack for making it sound wonderful.

 

And then when she starts talking about America as a whole that is when she sounds absolutely Reaganesque. Contrast Palin’s view of and pride in America against that of the current first lady, who apparently was never proud of her country until her husband was on the brink of winning a presidential primary. Most people do not need such a moment to begin having pride in America. Instead, most people have it from birth and that is the spirit which Palin seems to be tapping into right now, and it is the same spirit that Reagan tapped into almost 30 years ago.

 

Additionally, Palin shares Reagan’s optimism about America and about Americans. As opposed to Obama’s ‘blame America first’ approach to diplomacy, Palin speaks fervently about the greatness that is the America spirit. Reagan had that ability to make everyone feel better about their country and about themselves. He not only wanted everyone to pull themselves up by their own bootstraps, he was able to convince most Americans that they could do so.

 

Palin is a living example of what Reagan envisioned for all Americans – someone who could start out from humble beginnings but achieve high levels of success in life. As her book title suggests, she has lived ‘An American Life’ and it is just the kind of which Reagan would have approved.

 

Palin also wears her conservatism on her sleeve and is unashamed to talk about it. The same was very true of Reagan. He decried the ‘evil empire,’ socialism and government waste. And like Reagan, while she shares his conservative social views she has not tried to promote them via legislation – a fact about Reagan which Thomas correctly pointed out in his article. One of the scare tactics used by liberals against Palin was that she would attempt to push her social and religious values on all of America even though there was no evidence that she had ever tried to do so in Alaska.

 

On the contrary, both Reagan and Palin governed from a center-right stance once in office.  Reagan was forced to compromise with a Democrat-controlled Congress so he accepted increased spending on social programs, despite decrying them, in order to get his tax reform and defense spending initiatives passed.  And Palin's taxes on the oil companies were tantamount to the windfall-profit taxes proposed by Democrats in Congress during the Bush administration.  However, those Democrats wanted to take the money from the oil companies and keep it in Washington for the government to use, but in Palin's plan she gave the money back to the taxpayers of Alaska.  Palin and Reagan correctly understood that individuals can make better decisions for themselves than bureaucrats in Washington or Juneau can make for them.

 

But once again, compare Palin and Reagan’s unabashed conservatism with Obama’s far-left liberalism which he tried to hide from during the presidential campaign. Obama painted himself as a moderate, despite all evidence to the contrary. Ask voters today if they believe that Obama is the person that they thought he was in the campaign and the majority will likely say that he is not. But ask those same people if Palin is still the same person they thought she was and the majority will likely agree that she absolutely is. Like Reagan, Palin is a genuine person and that is one quality that is greatly sought by most Americans and yet it is so difficult to find, especially in the world of politics.

 

It is hard to tell at this point whether or not Sarah Palin will ever run for a political office again. However, if she does then she is the one who could easily channel her inner-Reaganism to run a campaign that will once again appeal to a solid majority of the American people. Many say that she is unelectable, particularly on a national level, but the fact of the matter is that Palin is the only reason that John McCain had any chance to win last year’s presidential election in a political climate and during a political cycle in which he should not have even been competitive. 

 

Had the financial crisis not hit home in September of last year, it is possible that McCain may have won the election and that would have been due to, and not in spite of, having Palin as his running mate. She was certainly the only member of the team who was energizing their party’s base. With the cards stacked against them in having an unpopular incumbent-party president, the onset of a recession, two increasingly unpopular wars and a financial crisis looming, Palin gave McCain a chance to be competitive. Few other political figures in the country could have given his campaign a similar boost.

 

As a testament to her power and popularity, one needs only look to the unrelenting efforts of those on the left to try to take her down. Clearly they fear what she is capable of doing in the future. Despite their efforts, though, the crowds keep coming, the ratings for her appearances keep soaring and now her book keeps selling. Palin’s presence even caused the military leaders at Fort Bragg, home of the 82^nd Airborne, to back down and allow the media to cover her book-signing event. If she can overcome the leaders of the 82^nd Airborne then what can she not overcome? The answer is absolutely nothing if she just continues being the person that she has always been. And as long as she maintains her Reaganesque ways, then someday we might just see ‘morning in America’ again.

 

Rob Binsrick