To most Americans, in her resignation, Sarah Palin proved herself to be the petty, embarassing failure we expected her to be. I personally regard her as something a little more dangerous – a calculated shot by the GOP at the Achilles’ Heel of democracy, a voter’s tendency to listen to the heart over the head. Good riddance.
But what to make of her continued popularity? To a very vocal minority, Palin is not only a talented politician, but a key player in an eschatological drama now unfolding, where villains will fall and heroes rise, no other explanation needed:
Glenn Beck: Many write:Palin is done.U don’t understand EVERYTHING is about to change. What you thought you knew, could trust or depend on is shifting (see also here, and here)
Some wingnut: Sarah of the Bible set in motion a righteous people to occupy the Earth. Sarah of Ak. set in motion a righteous government to occupy America
Why? What’s so compelling in this simple character, this personified insult to the American intellect? The answer, oddly enough, may be in comparative mythology. Palin’s meteoric rise & fall curiously parallel the story laid out in Joseph Campbell’s “Hero of a Thousand Faces,” which Campbell described as the skeletal form of most major myths, from the Iliad, to the Lord of the Rings, to Star Wars. Bear with me.
This all might seem fairly far fetched. But without the help of allegory, I remain at a loss to explain Palin’s continued popularity. Myths are generous: they work failings and bizarre transformations into the fabric of the story, forgiving and even valorizing them. To supporters sufficiently desperate for a hero, then, Palin can be just that, enriched rather than hurt by her flaws. Nevertheless, in the final analysis, any story that casts Palin as some kind of hero is what it sounds like – a fiction.
Below, my attempt to build Palin’s brief stay on the political stage into a Campbell-style myth, to understand just what, exactly, the other half sees in her:
- The First World & Departure: the hero of “monomyth” tales always begins as an outsider, ignorant of the broader conflict playing out in the world around him (or her). Think Luke Skywalker on Tatooine, Frodo in the Shire, or Cincinnatus tilling his field. The Hero is called to join the conflict, which requires abandoning the known world and stepping into the threshold of adventure. Note that the Hero’s “outsider” status bears a close nexus with a common theme in American political dramas. Presidents from Washington, to Jackson, to Reagan, have all either been political outsiders, or successfully represented themselves as such. Campbell’s heroes often refuse the call to adventure, at least at first; Palin famously didn’t, for which she’s often criticized.
- Supernatural Aid: the archetypal hero benefits from some supernatural aid – even the aid of nature itself. While Palin can’t claim an army of Ents, or a wizard advisor like Merlin, to listen to her supporters’ narrative, Palin does benefit from divine guidance. Indeed, to listen to Glenn Beck, destiny itself builds to her reign.
- Initiation: eventually the hero must “cross the threshold” by entering a danger so dire that it appears, for all the world, as if the hero has perished. However, while the old self perishes indeed, the hero emerges from the initiation altered, but for the better. We on the mainland obviously never saw Palin’s old self disappear. After all, we never even knew it existed. But Alaskans saw Palin disappear indeed, for the duration of the campaign and, come August, permanently. From this perspective, Palin’s dereliction of her responsibilities as governor is a strength, not a weakness.
- Trials: now immersed utterly in the world at large, the hero is tested, where she may encounter setbacks or even partial defeats, the products of inexperience or a steep learning curve. Lord knows Palin had setbacks. But while we saw a candidate entering a tailspin, in these same failures her supporters may have seen Palin’s humanity, and her struggle to find her feet.
- The Ultimate Test: all the while battling the temptation to renounce the quest and the values it represents, the hero finally reaches the innermost cave, and either grabs the Grail, smites the Dragon, or finds Truth. One of the three. It’s hard to see Palin conforming to this part of the tale – Election Day was not kind to her. But the hero doesn’t have to win to be a hero, at least not in the short term. Some heroes rewrite the terms of the game – and this is, in fact, the story told by Palin’s supporters, that each step she takes away from political office is really a circuitous, planned move towards the same. And, her true victory over the forces of evil, to her supporters, is Palin’s continued rejection of “elitism,” whatever that means.
- The Return: having won fame, love, knowledge, or happiness in the world at large, the hero must return home. The hero can resist or embrace the return, but, in all versions of the tale, the hero sees home through changed eyes, and struggles to “domesticate” the knowledge and vision earned abroad. At the end, the hero is the master of both worlds – however temporarily. It’s this return that, more so than any of the other elements of “monomyth,” Palin seems to have flubbed. However, her resignation is consistent with the tormented post-adventure hero – take, for example, the ennui of Tennyson’s Ulysses – and her continued popularity among Republicans, at least, consistent with the hero’s role as master. As they say, “tho much is taken, much abides.”
When she accepted the VP nomination, she knew she needed to bring her professional game up to another level, she never did. She knew that her family would get attacked as did Hilary and Chelsea before her (by even her twin maverick brother McCain in 1998), let face it she knew her family affairs would come out. But now she plays the victim card again, a card she played after those comical first extended interviews that we all enjoyed and SNL immortalized. But for the icing on the cake, she quits, because she does not want to be a lame duck governor, because the lawsuits keep coming, because it was the media’s fault, because seeing Russia from her house finally got to her, because its not fair that Alaskan’s paid her salary while she was running for the VP position, take your pick. So what does she tells us? Dear Mr. President, when things get tough, quit. Dear military men and women, if you are not having fun, quit. Dear son or daughter, if things are not going your way, quit. Sure, I agree when she first was introduced and gave a descent speech, sure the polls went up, but after the extended interviews, they went where they ended, down. She showed her true character, I real hope the book deal, Radio/ TV shows and the lecture circuits make up for what her party has lost by her actions. She may go down in history as the quitter that twittered.
Posted by Benito | July 8, 2009, 4:29 pmCan anyone real tell me that you were impressed by her exit speech? You can’t real believe that she is the only person that can win in 2012. You know, if she can’t take a joke, don’t get in the game, its politics, they all get kicked around. Let me paint you a picture, in my opinion, for the last eight years where the mantra was no regulation and no oversight and spread to all federal agencies and the justice department was filled by unqualified religious types and the dullard (ex-drunk) religious president started two wars of choice with extreme tax dollar spending, is anyone surprised with our current economic situation because of those choices. Sure “W” sucker the religious right to vote for him and that’s why he placed unqualified people in positions of responsibility and they failed (almost a “plan to fail”), do you forget Katrina, where the Director of FEMA Michael D. Brown, was relieved of his duties because of incompetence? Or can you forget disgraced White House correspondent James Guckert, AKA Jeff Gannon, the male escort, why was a male escort getting into the Whitehouse, hmmm? I know it was Barney Frank’s fault, he controls the county and republicans had their hands tied (even though 7 of the last 8 years they had the majority and the presidency to do something (fact or fiction?), but not the will to act). Oh, by the way I read that God blog, very funny, it reminds me of those TV evangelists who claim the talk to God and want so and so foreign country leader to be killed or such and such a us state to be punished by God for a court ruling that intelligent design is just another word for religion. We had enough of religious dullards in our government. If you believe that the USA has strayed from God then go out to your communities and preach to your neighbors, the sick, the shut ins, the poor and invite them to take part in your church, build a community. But I know that’s hard work we want a government official to do that for us, well they tried that and look where it left us, in the gutter, but our country does not quit and we will rise again. Do you remember how Ronald Reagan got us out of a recession? By spending and we will do the same. But she is just another “W” in heels and she is stringing the religious right along, she will sell you her books, her radio/TV shows and speaking engagements. Lastly, I do not want you to believe what I believe, so please keep writing, feel free, I am starting to enjoy this.
Posted by Paul | July 13, 2009, 3:11 pmCan anyone real tell me that you were impressed by her exit speech? You know, if she can’t take a joke, don’t get in the game, its politics, they all get kicked around. My beef is that she reminds of unqualified people like Ronald Reagan, Dan Quayle, and George “W”. She is just another “W” in heels and she is stringing the religious right along, she will sell you her books, her radio/TV shows and speaking engagements. Let me paint you a picture, in my opinion, for the last eight years where the mantra was no regulation and no oversight and spread to all federal agencies and the justice department was filled by unqualified religious types and the dullard (ex-drunk) religious president started two wars of choice with extreme tax dollar spending, is anyone real surprised with our current economic situation because of those choices. Sure “W” sucker the religious right to vote for him (and it didn’t hurt that they were promised federal dollars) and that’s why he placed unqualified people in positions of responsibility and they failed (almost a “plan to fail”). I am so tried of unqualified religious zealots controlling the government and their attempts to make the second coming of Christ a reality, their hatred of women, gays, minorities, and immigrants (even though they use them to reap higher margins for their businesses) disgust me. For 7 of the last 8 years they had the majority and the presidency and they tried to force their religion and look where it left us, in the gutter, but our country does not quit and we will rise again. Do you remember how Ronald Reagan got us out of a recession? By spending and we will do the same. Lastly, I do not want you to believe what I believe, so please keep writing, feel free, I am starting to enjoy this.
Posted by Paul | July 15, 2009, 5:36 pm