THE US REPORT

In today’s Washington Post, another opinion piece slams Gov. Sarah Palin. In ‘There’s something about Sarah,’ the writer implies Sen. John McCain picked Palin as a running mate because she’s sexy. The writer is touted as a conservative; I haven’t read enough of her columns to agree or disagree with that assessment. Judging from a quick search, I can say the writer has made criticizing Palin a cottage industry. If you want to read it, fish it out of the bowels of the Internet yourself. I'm not linking to it because in my opinion, there's nothing of substance in the article.

Where is an acknowledgement of Palin’s accomplishments? Does anyone really believe the woman could win election as Alaska’s governor absent skills? Ask every Alaska resident who received a check for more than $1,000 if they appreciated that money from oil profits. There was a mistake early on, however, in presenting Palin to the world.

The biggest problem for Palin: lack of preparation for American media in the early stages. Toss in the fact that unlike some of us, Palin is a conservative on every issue. That alone makes her a target. She’s an evangelical Christian as well. Double the size of that target.

I did some research on Palin; I wrote about the results at Covering Florida. I caught part of her address on Friday to an audience of parents with special needs children. These children are a little publicized issue in government-funded schools. The issue of how to best educate them deserves more attention. I think she’s the first candidate since Gerald Ford to bring this issue to the surface in a presidential election.

Another problem for Palin—she doesn’t come from the elite branch of the Republican Party. Some members of this constituency have created an image of the very thing media is accused of: elitism. At times such members remind me of liberal Democrats.

I confronted a great deal of anger, prejudice and negativity when I took the first significant job I had, a position previously held by men. I remember what one former college classmate asked me—“How in the hell did you get that job?”  When I succeeded in meeting the goals for that position—goals no man had ever been able to meet—I achieved grudging acceptance and a promotion.

History is replete with stories of women who battled for equality. A classic example is Lillian M. Gilbreth. After her husband died in 1924, Gilbreth managed the consulting firm he had established and she raised their 12 children—you may know the Gilbreths by the book, ‘Cheaper by the Dozen.’ She eventually enjoyed a successful career, but there’s an excerpt worth noting from the Smith Collection at Smith College:
       She experienced so much discrimination in her attempt to go solo in an overwhelmingly male profession, that she began concentrating on issues of homemaking. Gilbreth published two books on the subject, The Home-Maker and Her Job (1927) and Management in the Home (1954). Gilbreth and her husband were also concerned with the needs of disabled individuals. While he was still alive, they published several articles on disabled soldiers and Gilbreth continued this thread by designing equipment and motion saving methods to make household tasks easier for disabled people.

I spent some time this week watching Congressional hearings by the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee. Members grilled financial experts and government officials about the mortgage meltdown. After watching for a short while, I realized many of the Congressional members were clueless about economic terms and instruments. A less charitable person might call those members ‘stupid’ instead of ‘clueless.’ I predict we will never see an article questioning any of those committee members’ intellects. I can also make a guarantee: any pick by McCain would've been assailed by media. Big media has assailed the GOP since President George W. Bush won his first term.

Palin is a Washington outsider who worked her way to the top of the executive ladder in Alaska. That should count in a real analysis grounded in logic rather than in feminine pique.