SARAH PALIN AND THE DOUBLE STANDARD OF WHITE PRIVILEGE

Have you noticed the feedback on Sarah Palin?

FIRST, talk about “shock and awe”!! Who would have thought that of all the candidates available to the Republican Party, Sarah Palin from Alaska would have been chosen, and defended (repeatedly!), as being “the best” that the Party had to offer?

THEN there were the disastrous (is there really any other word?) appearances and interviews with Katie Couric, among others.

AFTER WHICH WE HAD the debate with Democratic vice presidential candidate Joe Biden. . .

AND NOW WE ARE LIVING WITH the excited buzz about Gov. Palin because. . .BECAUSE SHE DIDN’T PUT HER FOOT IN HER MOUTH DURING THE DEBATE!!!

Yes, Sarah Palin can talk, read, and follow her debate programming (and that is not a dig) all at the same time (even though the answers she gave could apply to just about whatever question was asked of her) and the “shock and awe” and excitement that this little fact is generating - especially among Republicans – says so much about both their assessment of her and the cynicism with which she was chosen.

Other than “energy conservation”; the fact that she “can see Russia from [her] house”; and the fact that – most cynically and importantly - she is a young, white woman, Sarah Palin – I’ll just say it – has brought less to the table, in terms of experience, than a well-traveled, uninvited houseguest.

Many are comparing her background and experiences as COMPARABLE (!!!!!) and SUPERIOR (!!!!) to Barack Obama’s.

Doesn’t that just take you back to the “good old days” when one of the most relevant generational truisms of being Black in Amerikkka was that you “. . . have to be twice as good to get half as much”?

Isn’t it sad that – with the favorable comparison of Sarah Palin’s professional experiences to Barack Obama’s professional experiences, we see so baldly how that truism still applies, even as we talk about a “post-racial” Amerikkka?

How do you think Amerikkka would receive Barack Obama had he a string of disastrous interviews and appearances on national TV, where he exhibited so little grasp of the issues?

How do you think Amerikkka would receive Barack and Michelle Obama had they a teenage, pregnant, unwed daughter (can’t you just see the headlines and racial stereotypes leaping of the page and the blogosphere?)?

How is it that his professional attainments and expertise are even being compared to hers - as if there was a valid comparison in terms of educational attainment and professional experiences – and that people are debating whether he is “qualified” while bashing those who ask that same question of her?

And why is it that he – a PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE – is even being compared to her – a VICE PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE – anyway, as if she were running for president. (Or is this Amerikkka unconsciously elevating Joe Biden to the position of leadership to stoke their comfort level with the Democratic ticket? Hmmmmm. . .)

And on an even more telling subject: how is it that many white people - and white women in particular - have favorable views of Sarah Palin but STILL QUESTION BARACK OBAMA’S READINESS TO LEAD?

Do you truly believe that if a person of color – or heck, even a white man, in this instance - had Gov. Palin’s resume, s/he would have been chosen to represent the Republican ticket as vice president?

I think we need to update that old truism. Because we see very clearly in this case that even being objectively “twice as good” isn’t necessarily good enough.

Well, Friends and Dissenters (you know you're all welcome here), I’M BACK!!!!

Hoping that you had a wonderful summer and anxious to know your thoughts on Sarah Palin and the elections.

Moving Forward!

Adar