{"id":440,"date":"2009-07-09T10:18:05","date_gmt":"2009-07-09T15:18:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/hushbeck.com\/blog\/?p=440"},"modified":"2009-07-09T10:18:05","modified_gmt":"2009-07-09T15:18:05","slug":"palin-and-obama","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hushbeck.com\/blog\/2009\/07\/palin-and-obama\/","title":{"rendered":"Palin and Obama"},"content":{"rendered":"

In a post on why there is so much hatred directed toward Sarah Palin, (Not Hating Sarah Palin<\/a>)\u00a0 Henry Neufeld make the following comment,<\/p>\n

“If the left had really wanted to see Palin diminish as an issue, they should have stayed away from exaggerated attacks and rumors. But the right should have done the same thing with Barack Obama. Despite huge differences in personalities, stories, and political views, I think very similar frustration has fueled hysterical anti-Obama rhetoric on the right. Those on the right simply could not and cannot understand Obama’s personal popularity.”<\/p>\n

Frankly, this is the sort of intellectual equivalence that drives me nuts.\u00a0 Let me first stipulate that certain aspects of the left and right are equivalent. There are thoughtful\u00a0 people on both sides and kooks on both sides.\u00a0 That given, there is little equivalence between the “average”\u00a0 liberal opposing \u00a0Palin, and the average conservative opposing\u00a0 Obama.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Nor do I think that the average conservative “simply could not and cannot understand Obama’s personal popularity.”\u00a0 They understand it all too well, which granted, probably is a source of frustration.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Concerning the liberal attacks on Palin, they are quite simple.\u00a0 ANY Republican, and especially any conservative who might reach a position of power is savagely and personally attacked by the left with some combination of: \u00a0dumb, heartless,\u00a0 greedy, uncaring, racist, bigot, homophobe, etc.\u00a0 \u00a0The facts are irrelevant. \u00a0Not only will these attacks not be questioned by the mainstream media, the mainstream media will for the most part join the chorus.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Thus many liberal still think that Reagan was an “amiable dunce” despite the fact that those who have actually studied his writings know that he was a serious political thinker.\u00a0\u00a0 Another example, is the common claim that George W. Bush is likewise dumb.\u00a0\u00a0 According to one report<\/a>, “Indeed, Bush is known to read… \u00a0little – both for official business and for diversion.” \u00a0\u00a0Like so much of the lefts attacks the facts are somewhat different.\u00a0 By virtually any standard Bush is a very serious reader,\u00a0 reading on average about 100 books a year<\/a> of which about half are non-fiction.\u00a0 In comparison it looks as if Obama reads less than 10 a year<\/a>. \u00a0<\/p>\n

The list of other examples is long.\u00a0 Bork, Thomas, Bush 41,\u00a0 Quayle,\u00a0 Gingrich,\u00a0 and now Palin, to name but a few.\u00a0 Whoever the Republicans nominate in 2012 is, that person will likewise be savaged.\u00a0<\/p>\n

What was surprising about Palin was not that she was viciously attacked, but that she generated such a strong ground swell of support so quickly.\u00a0 This is a testament as to why she was seen as one of the rising stars in the party, and was on many conservatives short list for potential VP candidates, including\u00a0 mine.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

But context is important, and frankly another part of the groundswell of support was that, for many she brought hope to the campaign, especially given the fact the party seems to have lost its conservative principles, and frankly, so many republicans were having a great deal of trouble voting for McCain, even in light of Obama.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

For example, when it became clear that McCain would be the nominee, I wrote a column<\/a> outlining \u00a0the problems I had with him.\u00a0\u00a0 I ended by writing, “For me, my current plan is to vote for McCain in November, and I will detail my reasons why in a future post.” \u00a0While I did vote for him, I never could quite get around to writing that future post.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

For those who think she was a drag on the ticket, the simple fact is that from the time of her announcement to when McCain suspended his campaign because of the housing induced financial crisis, was the only time since McCain’s nomination that it looked like Republican might actually have a chance to win.\u00a0<\/p>\n

As for Obama, the “average” conservative knows very well why Obama is so popular: his media image.\u00a0 It is just a fact that if all you hear about someone is positive you will tend to have a positive view of them.\u00a0 Virtually the entire entertainment and new media\u00a0 has fallen for Obama, a young, black, good looking , relatively unknown politician who, at least when using a teleprompter, gives good speeches.\u00a0<\/p>\n

He has never been seriously challenged by the press, and instead sends tingles down their legs.\u00a0 Thus Obama is allowed to make sweeping generalities and vague but nice sounding policy statements without having to get down into the actually details that might alienate voters. \u00a0Thus for the most part his campaign was simply\u00a0 hope and change,\u00a0 without having to actually fill in any details.<\/p>\n

Even now what do we know about him?\u00a0 Actually very little.\u00a0 For the press often seem more anxious to defend him than to question him. \u00a0\u00a0As I cite in my book Preserving Democracy<\/a>,\u00a0 reporters when over Palin with a fine tooth comb, while taking Obama at face value.\u00a0\u00a0 Perhaps if reporters had asked Obama some of the questions they asked Palin, things may have been different.<\/p>\n

More importantly, it is not so much that conservatives “hate” Obama, but that they strongly oppose his policies, I don’t think the reverse is true for liberals and Palin.\u00a0 This goes to a core difference between liberals and conservatives.\u00a0 Whereas conservatives tend on average to think that liberals are wrong, liberal tend to think conservatives are bad.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 For example, while conservatives think that\u00a0 Obama’s handling of the economy is seriously misguided, and will lead to even greater problems, liberals tended to see Bush’s handling of the economy as corrupt and aimed at “helping his buddies.”\u00a0<\/p>\n

I would also say there is a greater degree of partisanship on the left.\u00a0 Over the last eight years conservative\u00a0 had many strong disagreements with Bush’s domestic policies, in particular Campaign Finance Reform,\u00a0 Spending,\u00a0 Immigration, and the Stimulus bill to name just a few.\u00a0 In short they were guided by principles and supported him when they agreed with him, and opposed him when they didn’t.\u00a0 This is continuing with Obama. \u00a0While there is much for conservatives to oppose with Obama,\u00a0 many give him generally good marks on his handling of the war so far.<\/p>\n

Liberals, on the other hand,\u00a0 seem more driven by partisanship.\u00a0\u00a0 One clear example, \u00a0they opposed the increase of the debt under Bush, but are ok with an much greater increase now that Obama is in charge. \u00a0\u00a0In short it is clear that while they complained about “Bush’s debt”\u00a0 the focus of their complaint was Bush, not the debt. \u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Thus while at the fringes\u00a0 there may be a correspondence at the extremes, there is a significant divergence between mainstream liberal and conservative attacks.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In a post on why there is so much hatred directed toward Sarah Palin, (Not Hating Sarah Palin)\u00a0 Henry Neufeld make the following comment, “If the left had really wanted to see Palin diminish as an issue, they should have stayed away from exaggerated attacks and rumors. But the right should have done the same […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[25,28,30,31],"tags":[198,209,224,1994,570,626,665,2006,838,934,968,2011,1062,1074,1195,1213,1301],"class_list":["post-440","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-major-media","category-politics","category-preserving-democracy","category-press","tag-bork","tag-bush-41","tag-campaign-finance-reform","tag-conservative","tag-gingrich","tag-henry-neufeld","tag-immigration","tag-liberal","tag-mccain","tag-obama","tag-palin","tag-preserving-democracy","tag-quayle","tag-reagan","tag-spending","tag-stimulus-bill","tag-thomas"],"yoast_head":"\nPalin and Obama - Politics and Religion<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/hushbeck.com\/blog\/2009\/07\/palin-and-obama\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Palin and Obama - Politics and Religion\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"In a post on why there is so much hatred directed toward Sarah Palin, (Not Hating Sarah Palin)\u00a0 Henry Neufeld make the following comment, “If the left had really wanted to see Palin diminish as an issue, they should have stayed away from exaggerated attacks and rumors. 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