Sunday, September 14, 2008

Palin & the Times

Here's my reading of the Times' big story on Sarah Palin's record in Alaska:

Anyone who has ever covered a school board or worked in municipal politics will recognize the pattern.

A network of long-term incumbents settles into comfortable patterns of self-dealing and nest-feathering.

Periodically there is an eruption of reform. The leaders of these eruptions have to be brave and charismatic. They excite intense loyalty among their followers - and provoke keen resentment among those who have enjoyed the old ways of doing business.

But it also often happens that this same bold leader has a strong messianic streak. They see no difference between themselves and their movement. They draw fierce lines between friends and enemies. They intensely resent criticism. They see no contradiction between their demand for total openness from others - and secrecy for themselves. They can be paranoid and vindictive - because after all, their enemies are enemies of the great cause.

Ralph Nader fits this profile. So did Robert Moses. So did a friend of mine who did heroic work cleaning up the Toronto school board. These people can accomplish important things. And if they have sufficient largeness of spirit and understanding of politics, they put their reforms into enduring institutional form - and truly enhance the public welfare before they burn out.

If not ... their careers can end very destructively for all concerned.

John McCain caught Sarah Palin at the rising part of her career arc. She had been governor for not two years. She dusted away a lot of incumbents who needed to be dusted. Her original proposals for revising Alaska's severance tax look reasonable and prudent. (What emerged from the legislative process on the other hand looks dangerously confiscatory - and also exposes Alaska to greater downside risk in the event of an oil price drop.) 

What comes next for her? How would she deal with adversity - and the criticism that accompanies adversity? How strong are those dark aspects of the reformer personality that the Times' article depicted?
It might have been better to wait to learn the answers to those questions before putting her at the top of a party ticket. But the decision is made - and the answers will come.

09/14 01:38 PM