Sarah Palin and the Politics of Resentment

In his weekly New York Times column, Frank Rich weighs in on Sarah Palin in light of her recent decision to "drop out and cash in" and what that might mean for the future of the GOP.

While it's true that Palin has broad appeal among right-wingers, the crux of the problem is outlined quite nicely by Rich. During the 2008 presidential campaign, Palin supporters responded en masse to her message, delivered overtly and other times in a more nuanced fashion, that the state she governed represented the "real America", not-so-secret code for white working folk, unlike that fancy Negro community organizer from the city of big shoulders.

That’s why Palin won’t go gently into the good night, much as some Republicans in Washington might wish. She is not just the party’s biggest star and most charismatic television performer; she is its only star and charismatic performer. Most important, she stands for a genuine movement: a dwindling white nonurban America that is aflame with grievances and awash in self-pity as the country hurtles into the 21st century and leaves it behind. Palin gives this movement a major party brand and political plausibility that its open-throated media auxiliary, exemplified by Glenn Beck, cannot. She loves the spotlight, can raise millions of dollars and has no discernible reason to go fishing now except for self-promotional photo ops.

And that, my friends, is the GOP problem in a nutshell. While coalescing around a movement, angry whites are on the wrong side of the demographic slope. As this country becomes more racially blended, and as formerly powerless minorities being to make headway into roles held predominantly by white males since 1776, it will be easier to rally those who believe their time has passed. When an African-American can win the highest office in the land, and when a Hispanic female is on her way to the Supreme Court, it's no longer hyperbole on white supremacist web sites or back-room gatherings. The proof these racists need is there for all to witness.

In the absence of strong, highly-regarded Republican candidates, the core of the shrinking conservative movement has very few choices, and Palin revs up the base, draws a crowd, and is a photogenic example of the new hope for America. Never mind that it wasn't that long ago that conservatives openly trumpeted that a woman belonged not in the work force, but home raising their kids so they didn't get turned into homosexuals by being placed in daycare, or that women have been able to vote for only 89 of our 233 years of existence as a nation.

As Rich explains:

These are the cries of a constituency that feels disenfranchised — by the powerful and the well-educated who gamed the housing bubble, by a news media it keeps being told is hateful, by the immigrants who have taken some of their jobs, by the African-American who has ended a white monopoly on the White House. Palin is their born avatar. She puts a happy, sexy face on ugly emotions, and she can solidify her followers’ hold on a G.O.P. that has no leaders with the guts or alternative vision to stand up to them or to her.

I wouldn't expect this shrinking group of resentful bigots to go away quietly anytime soon. The natural reaction of the animal kingdom is to fight back ferociously when placed in the corner, and that's exactly where the resentful racists find themselves.

image by sean dreilinger / flickr