PrintFebruary 26, 2010
Powerless Against Palin
The Palestinians have nothing on liberal Democrats. Palestinians, as Abba Eban, Israel's former ambassador to the United Nations, famously quipped, "never missed an opportunity to miss an opportunity." But the Democrats and the jogging canines of mainstream journalism never miss an opportunity to miss the obvious.
Allow me, then, to explain the reason -- the real reason -- why the aforementioned devote the enormous amounts of time, effort, ink, and pixels to attack one woman, Sarah Palin. Palin is a private citizen, who does nothing but give speeches, sell books, post Facebook messages, and is a "Fox News contributor" whose only substantive "contributions" so far, from what I can see, have been to Fox News' bottom line and to her own bank account.
After all, we never saw the left direct this level of vitriol -- no, let's call it what it is, hatred -- against the likes of Ron Paul, Steve Forbes, Ross Perot, and others whose names, for good reason, I cannot recall. And, unlike Sarah Palin, these were all declared candidates, actively-campaigning for the presidency in an election year.
What could possibly account for this borderline deranged venting of hellfire, this spewing of enough bile to float a battleship, enough gnashing of teeth to pay the college tuition -- all four years -- of the children of a whole battalion of cosmetic dentists? After all, it's not like Sarah Palin could actually be elected President of the United States or anything.
Or could she?
Of course, she could, or at least the people attacking her think so. That is not to say that she will be elected or even nominated, but she could and that's clearly one reason why the left is so viciously attacking her and her alone. This has to be a sweet irony if you're Sarah Palin: Your enemies are screaming to the rafters that you can't be elected precisely because, in their heart of hearts and brain of brains, they know that you can. The New York Times' editorial board doth protest too much.
But even that is only one factor that explains, the ferocity, the hateful, the sheer derangement of the left's anti-Palin barrage and it's not the main factor, which is this: They are powerless to stop her. And they know it.
For Democrats, it is, literally, the Fear That Dare Not Speak Its Name, the fear that Sarah Palin could indeed be elected president and that there is nothing they can do about it.
Follow my impeccable logic here: While anything can happen between now and the first Tuesday of November, 2012, as the situation exists today (absent a swift and substantial rightward shift by Obama, a dramatic drop in the unemployment rate, the emergence of the Tea Parties as a viable third party, a decision by Obama not to run, or the sudden appearance of a deus ex machina) Barack Obama is a one-term president. If present trends continue, the next president will be a Republican. Mitt Romney, Scott Brown, your Aunt Petunia.
Or Sarah Palin. Whoever the Republicans nominate in 2012 becomes president in 2013. And that's the key word: "Republicans." Whoever the Republicans nominate.
And that's got to be frustrating for your average liberal Democrat: knowing that absent some surprising favorable development, the Republican Party will choose the next president. The Democrats role will be limited to simply standing there and letting it happen.
But as the late Billy Mays liked to say, "Wait! There's more!" Because if you're a liberal Democrat facing this prospect, you're probably thinking: "The Messiah's a goner, but if we're to have a Republican president, please, God, please, anyone but Sarah Palin. Anyone but an attractive, charismatic, principled, conservative, pro-life woman."
Now sometimes appeals to the Almighty work, but not always, or the nation would have been spared the Obama administration, and any appeals and arguments to the voters -- anything the Democrats do after the GOP chooses their candidate -- will be too late. The Plan A dog (to reelect Obama) won't hunt in 2012, which leaves liberals with Plan B: dissuade the Republicans from nominating Palin in the first place. Throw everything, including the kitchen sink, at her. Blast her with every crack, every criticism, every accusation, no matter how absurd, how hysterical, how rabid and irrational, and hope something sticks. Sully her good name; taint her so badly in the public's eyes that Republicans won't dare nominate her.
Either that, or turn on the TV at noon, January 20, 2013 to see Barack Obama, out after one soon-to-be-forgotten term, standing on a platform in front of the White House -- and the entire world puts her left hand on the Bible, raises her right, and repeating after Chief Justice Roberts (or reading from her palm) says:
I, Sarah Louise Palin, do solemnly swear that I will faithfully execute the office of the President of the United States...
Is it any wonder the Dems are going bonkers?
Gene Schwimmer is the author of The Christian State.
[UPDATE: In the comments section, commenter Bridgestone RB1 points out (embarrassingly) that when I wrote "While anything can happen between now and the first Tuesday of November, 2012...", I "made the mistake many make. The voting is not "the first Tuesday of November." We vote on the Tuesday after the first Monday in November" - which in 2012 would be the second Tuesday in November, not the first. Suitably embarrassed, I regret the error. - gs]
