The New Republic has an amazing piece on Sarah Palin. In it, Noam Scheiber offers the most comprehensive interpretation of the Palin persona and phenomenon that I have seen or heard yet. Her folksiness is a weapon, but not necessarily in the “I’m a good ol’ boy” way of Bush. Bush knows who he is and has been — he is the embodiment of American royalty.
In her version, Palin’s unrelenting folksiness exists in response to a genuine fear she has of others. Not “The Other.” Not the black man or the gay woman or the brown Muslim. No. A fear of others who might be better, stronger, faster. When we watch her speak or listen to her debate, we get to cheer her heartfelt attempts to move beyond her birthright and into a bigger world of more and better. For those of us born far outside of royalty, we, even when we disagree with her absolutely, we can’t help but root for her.
Contrast this to Obama’s coolness, which exists, I think, partially to mask his own belief that he is just slightly better than everyone else. Thankfully, he is.
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