{"id":3261,"date":"2010-11-22T04:20:05","date_gmt":"2010-11-22T09:20:05","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/inbox\/?p=3261"},"modified":"2010-11-22T08:41:08","modified_gmt":"2010-11-22T13:41:08","slug":"the-two-very-problematic-women-who-define-american-politics","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/inbox\/2010\/11\/22\/the-two-very-problematic-women-who-define-american-politics\/","title":{"rendered":"The two (very problematic ) women who define American politics"},"content":{"rendered":"

Here’s a fascinating thing:\u00a0 In 2010, the most polarizing, complicated and powerful figures in American politics are women who happen to have losing track records.<\/p>\n

They are former Alaska governor Sarah Palin and former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.<\/p>\n

Pelosi was dethroned earlier this month when her party lost sixty seats in the House.<\/p>\n

Palin was walloped in the 2008 presidential race, when she ran as John McCain’s veep.\u00a0 She later quit as governor of the state of Alaska.<\/p>\n

But in the aftermath of their political setbacks, both women have declined (thank you very much) to fade away.<\/p>\n

Palin has emerged as a dominant figure in the Republican Party, having mastered the media landscape from the lofty perch of her Fox News post to the frequent Twitter barbs that she launches at opponents.<\/p>\n

After backing a far-right slate of candidates in the 2010 midterms, Palin says that she’s exploring the possibility of running for president in 2012.<\/p>\n

While Palin has mastered the reality-TV textures of modern American politics, however, her grasp on policy and government remain suspect at best.<\/p>\n

Republican Senator Lisa Murkowski — a Palin rival — summed her up this way in an interview with CBS’ Katie Couric<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\n
\n
\u201cI just do not think that she has those leadership qualities, that intellectual curiosity that allows for building good and great policies.\u201d<\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n
When party leaders urged Palin to spend some time brushing up her policy chops, she cheerfully declined.\u00a0 But most Americans seem to agree that she needs to lay on some gravitas.\u00a0 Here are the results of a Washington Post poll <\/a>conducted earlier this month.<\/div>\n
\n

Q: Regardless of whether or not you’d vote for her, do you think Palin is or is not qualified to serve as president?<\/p>\n

                        Is        Is not       No\r\n                     qualified   qualified   opinion\r\nRegistered voters     27         67        6\r\n\r\nDemocrats             14         82        3\r\nRepublicans           47         46        7\r\nIndependents          23         70        7\r\n<\/pre>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n
On the other side of the aisle sits Nancy Pelosi, a woman who might be described as Palin’s perfect opposite in political terms.<\/div>\n
An accomplished legislator, who pushed through one of the most ambitious legislative agendas in post-War history, Pelosi has also proved to be as close to tone-deaf as a politician can possibly be.<\/div>\n
If Palin is the Captain Kirk of modern American politics — all brashness and instinct — then Pelosi is Mr. Spock.<\/div>\n
In a post-election interview with the New York Times magazine, Pelosi had this exchange with reporter Deborah Solomon:<\/div>\n
\n
Your home team, the San Francisco Giants, won the World Series  this month. Have you ever thrown out the first pitch at a Giants game? <\/strong>
\nLet me say that one of the things as a politician I do not wish to  do is to get attention at a sports event. My husband and I have season  tickets to the Giants games, and we go there as fans to enjoy it.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
You should try tossing out the first pitch next spring. It\u2019s a populist gesture, and it could help improve your image. <\/strong>
\nI don\u2019t even know how far I could throw the ball, to tell you the truth.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
Pelosi seems almost eager to miss the point, which is that she has more sharp edges than a box of broken china. The idea of adapting, of burnishing her public appeal, seems distinctly unappetizing to her.<\/p>\n
Yet she will continue to be the most public face of the Democratic House caucus.\u00a0 Surely, her unwillingness to change and grow is every bit as limiting as Palin’s.<\/p>\n
My guess is that as we slouch into 2011, both these women will remain as symbols of what is wrong with our two big political parties.<\/p>\n
The one is robustly populist and vibrant, but so thin on actual policy ideas that many of her pronouncements verge on self-parody.<\/p>\n
The other brims with legislative goals and wonky ideas, but remains about as appealing as — well, about as appealing as Nancy Pelosi.<\/p>\n
It’s not hard to imagine that, in the end both, might do their causes far more harm than good.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Here’s a fascinating thing:\u00a0 In 2010, the most polarizing, complicated and powerful figures in American […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[20],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/inbox\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3261"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/inbox\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/inbox\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/inbox\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/12"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/inbox\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3261"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/inbox\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3261\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3264,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/inbox\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3261\/revisions\/3264"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/inbox\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3261"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/inbox\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3261"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/inbox\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3261"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}