PrintI find the voice undeniably authentic (yes, I know the book was written “with the help” of Lynn Vincent, but many books, including my most recent one, are put together by an editor). It is the voice of small-town America, with its folk wisdom, regional pride, common sense, distrust of rhetoric (itself a rhetorical trope), love of country and instinctive (not doctrinal) piety. It says, here are some of the great things that have happened to me, but they are not what makes my life great and American. (“An American life is an extraordinary life.”) It says, don’t you agree with me that family, freedom and the beauties of nature are what sustains us? And it also says, vote for me next time. For it is the voice of a politician, of the little girl who thought she could fly, tried it, scraped her knees, dusted herself off and “kept walking.”
In the end, perseverance, the ability to absorb defeat without falling into defeatism, is the key to Palin’s character.
Stanley Fish of The New York Times, on Sarah Palin's Going Rogue.
COMMENTS (2)
As a lifelong resident of small town rural America (midwestern sub-species), I want to say that Palin represents the best of small town rural America in roughly the same way that a case of giardia represents the best of wilderness camping: authentic, vivid, memorable - and utterly undesirable.
Yes, there are great people out here, with lots of appealing pieties and homilies and humilities - and they are more likely to be wrong about the larger issues of a world that is not primarily small town and rural than they are to be right, and less realistic about their lack of knowledge and understanding - in short, not humble at all - than they are to be wise and insightful. I love them, but I love ... view full comment
As a lifelong resident of small town rural America (midwestern sub-species), I want to say that Palin represents the best of small town rural America in roughly the same way that a case of giardia represents the best of wilderness camping: authentic, vivid, memorable - and utterly undesirable.
Yes, there are great people out here, with lots of appealing pieties and homilies and humilities - and they are more likely to be wrong about the larger issues of a world that is not primarily small town and rural than they are to be right, and less realistic about their lack of knowledge and understanding - in short, not humble at all - than they are to be wise and insightful. I love them, but I love Golden Retrievers too. In neither case should we be blind to their limitations.
sdemuth wrote: "there are great people [in small-town rural America], with lots of appealing pieties and homilies and humilities - and they are more likely to be wrong about the larger issues of a world that is not primarily small town and rural than they are to be right, and less realistic about their lack of knowledge and understanding - in short, not humble at all - than they are to be wise and insightful."
Well said, I agree with you 100%, and I believe that we can substitute urban elites for small-town residents and be equally truthful--word for word.
I've spent plenty of time in both locales, and it looks like a wash to me. Which is why those of us who, to give one example, voted for Bar ... view full comment
sdemuth wrote: "there are great people [in small-town rural America], with lots of appealing pieties and homilies and humilities - and they are more likely to be wrong about the larger issues of a world that is not primarily small town and rural than they are to be right, and less realistic about their lack of knowledge and understanding - in short, not humble at all - than they are to be wise and insightful."
Well said, I agree with you 100%, and I believe that we can substitute urban elites for small-town residents and be equally truthful--word for word.
I've spent plenty of time in both locales, and it looks like a wash to me. Which is why those of us who, to give one example, voted for Barack Obama tempt fate if we think for one moment we can get away with patronizing or dismissing or demonizing or otherwise denigrating those who did not, most of whom are, by my calculations at least, just as likely to get an invitation to break bread or empty a glass with Bill Yard as members of any other demo.
(Much of such denigration is an understandable reaction, of course, given the superficial, thrill-seeking efforts of the media to highlight the differences between Americans--differences that look trivial next to our similarities, shared values, similar concerns, etc. The media are sordid cockfighting organizers, strapping sharpened steel talons to Americans' feet and setting us against one another in stench-filled back rooms, while they collect the bets.)