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Palin: All-American 'Hockey Mom'

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By JOHN HERBERT, From Where I Sit

Hernando Today

Published: September 24, 2008

Did she, or didn't she? Who cares, really? This year's presidential election is between John McCain and Barack Obama, both U.S. senators. The VP candidates, Gov. Sarah Palin of Alaska and Sen. Joe Biden of Delaware, are peripheral to the context.
Gov. Palin — "Sarah" to the whole world by now — was famously for the Alaskan "Bridge to Nowhere" before she was against it. Sound familiar? But, a woman's prerogative is to change her mind, the defense might reason.
As a responsible state political leader, she collected all the facts and weighed the costs before she rejected the $223 million local earmark that would have saddled the entire nation with more unwanted pork. Not that she's entirely against pork; sea otters, berry researchers, native-Alaskan museums and skating rinks have been beneficiaries of federal largesse in Alaska.
She supported redirecting the $223 million to Hurricane Katrina relief, a much more noble cause at the time. In a typical example of leftist media bias, no one has made a big deal out of the bridge follow-up: Obama voted to force the $223 million in pork on Alaska, anyway.
By the way, that's one of the few votes Obama has cast, yes or no, in his brief U.S. Senate term. On the other hand, Obama has voted "present" 130 times. Where's the outcry? Where's the record of experience? All he's got is a Senate record for some pretty dandy footwork.
My media colleagues missed another opportunity: Joe Biden's stated opinion that Palin is "obviously a backwards step for women."
I wonder what our feminist flank will think about that one? Females everywhere should be cheering Palin as a classic example of a woman's right to juggle both a career and a family.
Gloria Steinem and other like-minded leftist female profiles haven't exactly been gleefully jumping up and down, though. You see, Palin has garnered her political experience all on her own. The feminists would have rather seen the feds mandate — and finance — Palin's path to Washington.
Palin probably bakes cookies, too, to the chagrin of another feminist Beltway politico, Senator Hillary Clinton, whose name-recognition appears to be based on her husband's infidelities.
Let's put the "experience" issue to rest, once and for all. True, Palin is a rather average individual, without a politician's customary Ivy League education. Remember luminaries like Calvin Coolidge, Teddie Roosevelt and Harry Truman? They were just as short of political experience as Palin when they were nominated as VP candidates, selected instead for their ability to fortify and broaden their respective presidential tickets.
FDR was even widely quoted, in the 1944 election run-up, as admitting he had "barely heard of Harry Truman."
All three vice presidents went on to become generally regarded as among our more stellar presidents.
I'm not at all surprised by Palin's meteoric political career. Alaskan license plates boast the state is "The Last Frontier." As frontier country, Alaska should be a land of opportunity — for anyone, male or female. Palin has certainly made the most of her frontier opportunities.
Win or lose, Palin will be a big boon for tourism, hunting and fishing in Alaska. McCain picked as his running mate a gun-toting, hockey-coaching, small-business-advocating mother of five. Oh, and she can "field dress" a moose. As one Republican convention-goer screamed, "My God. An Alaskan Valley Girl."
On tourism, Palin would have a lot to work with. Alaska is different. Driving through suburban Anchorage, I have been frequently crowded off the road by light planes using the streets as taxiways. Many private homes have two snowmobiles in the garage.
The only mistake I made on my dozen Alaskan visits was to take my family on a week-long skiing and sightseeing trip one February. The temperature never rose above minus 30F. My wife summed up the week, "Get me outta here."
Alaska is still grappling with frontier country alcohol problems. I had to step over a couple of drunken natives in the doorway to an Anchorage barroom. A sign at the entry read, "If you want to be served, put your revolver on the bar."
Never disparage an Alaskan's commitment to the environment. Palin may want challenge the environment by drilling for more oil. Let her. I didn't see a single piece of litter around supposedly filthy North Slope oil rigs. And, despite warnings to the contrary from "Lower 48" tree-huggers, herds of wild caribou know exactly how to tackle the fabled Alaska oil pipeline. They simply duck under it and keep on grazing.
While the "Last Frontier" could be a challenge to my health, it's obviously phenomenal for all of America's "hockey mom." The Democratic opposition doesn't quite know how to throw her a hip check!

A regular columnist for Hernando Today, John Herbert lives in Spring Hill.

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