Which brings me to why Sarah Palin is a goddess. By that I don’t mean she has actual godlike powers. I’m talking about her role in the rightie mythological cosmos, and why pointing out her obvious shortcomings will put no dents in the tea partiers’ loyalty to her.The problem is simple. Isn't this the same kind of thing people were accusing Obama of having in early 2008? Indeed, there are a number of articles I can find on Obama's cult of personality from everyone from Jake Tapper to The Kroog (!?!?) ripping Obama for coming dangerously close to a setup like this. From a theological and sociological view, Maha is right. Politically? It'll never, ever fly and Obama's cult status will only get thrown up in people's faces...and rightfully so.
By “goddess” I mean a goddess in something like (but not exactly) the tantric sense, in which a deity becomes an archetype for one’s own deepest nature. Palin, by contrast, is a near-perfect embodiment of an ideal. She is (to a rightie) beautiful, sexual, and maternal; she is powerful enough that the Evil Ones who live in Washington and who speak seditious things on the Teevee must kowtow to her. Through her folksy speech and shooting skills she evokes other American archetypes from more wholesome, earlier times, like Daniel Boone. But she also wears modern clothes and has a Facebook page.
Like most tantric deities, Palin has has both benevolent and wrathful aspects. As a wrathful goddess she gives voice to her followers’ deepest fears and hates and resentments. But she also has a bright smile and sometimes carries a baby, showing a benevolent side. Her followers both love her and identify with her; she is an archetype representing their own deepest selves, or at least the selves they’d like to be.
She’s a goddess, I tell you. And because she is a goddess is makes no difference to her devotees that she has few real accomplishments, no coherent ideas, and probably doesn’t know Bern from Budapest. It does not matter if she writes crib notes on her hand and needs several months to think of a name of a newspaper she actually reads. In fact, it does not matter to them if she reads at all. Whatever she does is exactly right, because it is her doing it, and she is a goddess.
It’s important to understand this, because it shows us why it’s futile to treat Palin as just another politician or media star. It was pointless to make fun of the crib notes, for example. I doubt anyone could bring Palin down but Palin herself. If she somehow grossly and blatantly violated the ideal she represents, her followers could turn on her. But until she does that, she is invincible in the eyes of the devoted.
Not to defend Sarah Palin in any way, but throwing this cult of personality accusation around is not anything that's going to stick after it was applied to Obama two years ago, no matter how applicable it actually is to Moose Lady.
This one's a loser, guys. Let's not go down this path on Palin.
The difference I see is that the minute Obama actually disagreed with us on policy, we reacted negatively. -- and that goes way back to Obama backing telecom immunity during the campaign. And now many of us are either completely disillusioned or (my camp) alternately disillusioned and supportive. Whereas I don't think the Palinites can bring themselves to say that policy position A is exactly right and policy position B is a regrettable but tolerable compromise and policy position C is just infuriating, while this tactic is brilliant and that tactic is embarrassingly inept. That's how we talk about Obama, and a lot of us were doing that even in 2008, but Palin, to her fan base, just walks on water no matter what she says or does.
ReplyDeleteAnd like I said, Steve...you're right. Obama has many, many critics who fairly have problems with his policies, myself included.
ReplyDeleteAny criticism on Palin is seen as a personal insult, even if it is on substantive policy. You're right, she does have something of a cult around her.
But there's no way politically you can bring that up. not with the Village Idiots we have now.