Not My Representative

The nomination of Sarah Palin as the Republican Vice Presidential candidate has deeply angered me, and not only because I am an ardent supporter of Senator Barack Obama. To be honest, I probably would not have been as angry if McCain had chosen a man who was pro-life, whose only foreign policy experience was, as she so quaintly put it, living in Alaska, and whose solution to the oil crisis was not to think of more sustainable ways to live our lives but to further exploit our natural resources and environment by drilling in Alaska. In and of themselves, these issues are significant enough that I would not vote for such a candidate, but I would not be as angry as I am now. No, the reason I am angry is the fact that the Republicans chose Sarah Palin as the first female nominee for their party.

Their choice personifies the disregard that the party has for female intellect. The Republicans have their fair share of talented, intelligent, politically savvy and experienced women, and instead of choosing a woman who exemplified those qualities, they chose Palin. They sifted through their party, thought about picking a woman, and nominated the one who was the least qualified to run the country. Instead of picking someone who might actually be McCain's equal, they chose someone who would always be considered not only his junior in terms of experience and age, but also in terms of analytical and intellectual ability. Palin is by no means stupid—the former beauty queen knows how to package herself well enough to become governor of Alaska and then the Republican VP candidate--but she is also brash and ignorant of global affairs (since when can one see Russia from Alaska?). Her time in office has been marred by hints of political scandal that force me to question her ethical system. She promotes family values but lacks moral direction when it comes to firing people she does not like. For someone who represents the first woman on the Republican ticket, she is doing a pretty terrible job.

The Republicans and Sarah Palin herself claim that she is the typical American mom and represents the average American woman. As an American woman, I refuse to be represented by someone like her, who is so uncomfortable with her femininity that she claims to wear "school-marm glasses" to make herself look less attractive. Not only is that statement insulting to men (obviously they cannot think straight around attractive women), but it's also offensive to women (of course all bespectacled women are unattractive!). Her resume and educational level are less than impressive, but that did not seem to matter at the Republican National Convention where cameras focused on Palin sitting next to Cindy McCain cradling her five month old infant. Palin's image as a good mother was emphasized much more than her image as an experienced candidate. The message was clear: that was a woman's role, not going to Yale Law School and being a senator of one of the most populous states in the country and then running for president.

The contrast between Palin and Hillary Clinton could not be starker. Clinton is a woman who has achieved significant, tangible goals. She, too, has raised a family, yet no one is calling her the prototypical American woman. She is a highly educated woman with a formidable grasp of policies and global affairs, and even though I did not agree with her stances and vehemently oppose her decision to support the Iraq war, I still respect her, which is not something I can say of Palin. Palin has nothing to recommend her as a future VP, whereas Clinton would at least have been qualified for her position as president.

Palin now has the honor of being the first female nominee on a major party's ticket, and that rankles, because she is not a woman who is uniquely qualified for anything. To think that she represents an honor that shows how far women have advanced in American politics seems to be a travesty to me.