Published: October 12, 2008 01:11 pm            

The bridge to November: Paved with Palin

As various cities in Texas and elsewhere continued efforts to recover from Hurricane Ike and members of Congress debated and passed legislation to deal with the economy, Gov. Sarah Palin, a disciple of “Hockey-ism,” launched a vicious attack on Sen. Barack Obama.

In her traditional high-pitched voice, she declared: “Our opponent…is someone who sees America; it seems, as being imperfect, imperfect enough, that he is 'palling' around with terrorists who would target their own country.” (The Huntsville Item, 10-6-08).

Speaking before a group in Englewood, Colo., and apparently with approval from McCain and his campaign operatives, Palin made a deliberate attempt to smear Obama. It was a sad, vicious performance in the wake of mounting economic problems and personal losses of millions of Americans faced with the prospect of starting over after hurricane disasters.

In response to the lies she attempted to spread, there is an old proverb often used to guide behavior in a positive direction: “People who live in glass houses should not throw stones.”

In a reality-based world, it is advisable to assess political strengths and weaknesses to determine the potential fall-out of Palin's charges — often accompanied by winks and whines. Palin purports to be all of these things: A governor, former mayor, former beauty queen and basketball player, and a working mom.

While none of these roles can be disputed, there is a dark side and moral risks to how she plays her maternal role versus political responsibilities.

Serving as a politician and mother may reflect her lesser strengths. The institution of the family is central to the transmission of values to the young. Family is the main building block of a community.

We have heard a great deal about family values. To have a sense of family values is to have good intentions and good deeds, to love and care for others. Words/phrases like compassion, ethics, honesty, common sense, resolution and respect for others are value-laden. Palin’s attempt to link Obama with a man he met during his adult years and try to place a “terrorist pin” on him is ridiculous and outright vicious.

It is a poor example for children, including her own, to be exposed to “low down, win-at-any cost” tactics. Those who possess a sense of family values would not contribute to “the personal destruction of a young man that was 8 years old when the alleged unpatriotic acts took place.”

Both Palin and McCain have a few skeletons in closets. As Palin attempted to link Obama with terrorists, some questions have been raised about her close association with the Alaskan Independence Party (AIP) and its late leader, Joe Vogler. During the early 1970s Vogler began arguing about the validity of the Alaskan statehood vote.

He began circulating a petition seeking support for the secession of Alaska from the United States; a decade later he founded Alaskans Independence Party (AIP) to actively pursue secession from the U.S.

He questioned whether the 1958 vote by Alaskans authorizing statehood was legal. AIP quotes Vogler as saying “I’m an Alaskan, not an American. I've got no uses for America or her damned institutions.”

He went on to serve as the AIP's standard bearer for most of the party's first two decades. Writing about the Palin link to the Alaskan Independence Party, Journalist Lynette Clark noted: Palin has actively courted the AIP while Vogler (1991) declared: “The fires of hell are frozen glaciers compared to my hatred for the American government…And I won’t be buried under their damn flag.”

Vogler, the last head of AIP, was allegedly pulled from his bed in the “dead of night, murdered under mysterious circumstances, and his body was hidden. The murder went unsolved for just over a year. Again, AIP chairperson Clark wrote: “…Vogler has become a true martyr in the cause for separatism…”

While her record on diversity and Civil Rights is not clear, Gov. Palin’s connection to Vogler is evident, not because of her membership in the organization, but because of a family member’s link to the goals and mission of AIP.

Her husband, Todd, had a registered five-year membership in AIP from 1995-2000. Even with the facts and rumors about the Palins, Senator Obama refused to stoop to personal attacks against them.

In this difficult period involving a financial crisis in American history, our main business should focus on good governance as well as “providing for the common defense” and promoting strategies to address the needs of people still struggling for recovery from recent disasters. Sen. Obama has expressed his admiration for Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. He had limited contact with the radical leader to which Palin referred. Dr. King’s cause was the dignity of his race and the full realization of America’s founding values (Source: Why Courage Matters, 4-1-04).

King was an exemplar of moral courage. He was a believer in nonviolence who had the courage to resist repression, to live his moral code. Yet fear did not restrain him.

Several Indian proverbs may be applied to Obama's life choices: “Fate and self-help share equally in shaping our destiny…” Another, “don't judge any man until you have walked two moons in his moccasins.”

An even wiser admonition is: "Life is not a continuum of pleasant choices, but of inevitable problems that call for strength, determination, and hard work.” The bridge to the U. S. presidency must be paved with good intentions.





Naomi W. Ledé is a retired Senior Research Scientist, Distinguished Professor and former University Administrator. She currently serves as Chair of the Board of the Samuel Walker Houston Museum and Cultural Center in Huntsville.

        

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