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Obama and the Palin Effect

(I Received this in an e-mail, therefore can not cite a source)

by Deepak Chopra

Sometimes politics has the uncanny effect of mirroring the national psyche
even when nobody intended to do that. This is perfectly illustrated by the
rousing effect that Gov. Sarah Palin had on the Republican convention in
Minneapolis this week. On the surface, she outdoes former Vice President
Dan Quayle as an unlikely choice, given her negligent parochial expertise
in the complex affairs of governing. Her state of Alaska has less than
700,000 residents, which reduces the job of governor to the scale of
running one-tenth of New York City. By comparison, Rudy Giuliani is a
towering international figure. Palin’s pluck has been admired, and her
forthrightness, but her real appeal goes deeper.

She is the reverse of Barack Obama, in essence his shadow, deriding his
idealism and turning negativity into a cause for pride. In psychological
terms the shadow is that part of the psyche that hides out of sight,
countering our aspirations, virtue, and vision with qualities we are
ashamed to face: anger, fear, revenge, violence, selfishness, and
suspicion of “the other.” For millions of Americans, Obama triggers those
feelings, but they don’t want to express them. He is calling for us to
reach for our higher selves, and frankly, that stirs up hidden reactions
of an unsavory kind. (Just to be perfectly clear, I am not making a verbal
play out of the fact that Sen. Obama is black. The shadow is a metaphor
widely in use before his arrival on the scene.) I recognize that
psychological analysis of politics is usually not welcome by the public,
but I believe such a perspective can be helpful here to understand Palin’s
message. In her acceptance speech
Gov. Palin sent a rousing call to those who want to celebrate their
resistance to change and a higher vision

Look at what she stands for:

Small town values — a nostaligic return to simpler times disguises a
denial of America’s global role, a return to petty, small-minded
parochialism.
Ignorance of world affairs — a repudiation of the need to repair America’s
image abroad.
Family values — a code for walling out anybody who makes a claim for
social justice. Such strangers, being outside the family, don’t need to be
needed.
Rigid stands on guns and abortion — a scornful repudiation that these
issues can be negotiated with those who disagree.
Patriotism — the usual fallback in a failed war.
”Reform” — an italicized term, since in addition to cleaning out
corruption and excessive spending, one also throws out anyone who doesn’t
fit your ideology.

Palin reinforces the overall message of the reactionary right, which has
been in play since 1980, that social justice is liberal-radical, that
minorities and immigrants, being different from “us” pure American types,
can be ignored, that progressivism takes too much effort and globalism is
a foreign threat. The radical right marches under the banners of “I’m all
right, Jack,” and “Why change? Everything’s OK as it is.” The irony, of
course, is that Gov. Palin is a woman and a reactionary at the same time.
She can add mom to apple pie on her resume, while blithely reversing forty
years of feminist progress. The irony is superficial; there are millions
of women who stand on the side of conservatism, however obviously they are
voting against their own good. The Republicans have won multiple national
elections by raising shadow issues based on fear, rejection, hostility to
change, and narrow-mindedness

Obama’s call for higher ideals in politics can’t be seen in a vacuum. The
shadow is real; it was bound to respond. Not just conservatives possess a
shadow — we all do. So what comes next is a contest between the two forces
of progress and inertia. Will the shadow win again, or has its furtive
appeal become exhausted? No one can predict. The best thing about Gov.
Palin is that she brought this conflict to light, which makes the upcoming
debate honest. It would be a shame to elect another Reagan, whose smiling
persona was a stalking horse for the reactionary forces that have brought
us to the demoralized state we are in. We deserve to see what we are
getting, without disguise.

By sloopskipper on Sep 19, 2008, 15:02 in Off Topic.

Bill Turley (☼Travelguide writer) says on Sep 19, 2008, 15:09:

All I can see is William Ayers, his friend and associate and his religous leaders and confidants. If someone really wanted to get the whites what better platform than the White House. I grew up and lived for years in a small town. I embraced my church and went hunting. Exactly what Obama ridiculed.

Mr. Bill Somondoco

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sloopskipper says on Sep 19, 2008, 15:36:

God help the USA if those trivial things are important in this crucial election!

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sloopskipper says on Sep 19, 2008, 15:44:

Bill, you will vote one way or the other because you are offended about statements about going to church or HUNTING, and that would influence your voting? Get REAL, man!

There are a lot more important issues for the so called "leaders" of the Free World.

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miamimike says on Sep 19, 2008, 17:12:

grew up and lived for years in a small town. I embraced my church and went hunting. Exactly what Obama ridiculed
==================================================================
Bill could you post a link showing Obama saying "exactly" what you claim above...I never saw Obam ridiculing those 2 things, embracing attending a church and ridiculing hunting

On Sept 17, 2008: Senator John McCain said, as he had many times before, that he believed the fundamentals of the economy were "strong."Hours later he backpedaled, explaining that he had meant that American workers were Strong.

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dwmte7 says on Sep 19, 2008, 22:00:

not only went to church, but i farmed, real farming, big land, hard work and i hunted like few people hunt/hunted. and i was republican that's was. i got so tired of cheap, lying, swolen throated red necks cheating the system, fattening their purses at our expense and only after they had robbed the public trust for years, were they thrown out of office disgraced did we git rid of them.

throughout this election, mr obama has been non offensive, apologetic, gentlemanly, cordial and courteous to every stinking slander that could be slung. including the sewer laden works of the infamous carl rove. fear and smear has become a way of life for the so called right wing.

well let me tell you all, i'm right wing, i believe in mom and apple pie, and GOD and hunting and farming and families that love, cling to each other and help others. but i can't stand folks that look at life and color it from their own hidden adjendas and hipocracy. haven't we had enough of that.

this race is about RIGHT, not about a man of color and an ex prisoner of war. it's about the people who have fought the wars of this country (me) and preserved the freedom of this great land. and i'll tell you...with all due respect, sitting in a prisoner of war camp, being tortured and surviving, does not qualify one for presidency. any more than my time qualifying me.

it's about reinstating honor to our flag and our constitution and nation and peoples who have all been brutally beaten, assualted and abused by a gang of hoodlums who parade around as if they were defenders of our precious heritage when it was this very gang of thugs that lied to us all and killed our fathers, mothers, sisters and brothers for nothing. and don't yank out the bs that it was for our safety. we're anything but more safe.

we need to reenter the world scene with honorable, constitutional diplomacy, act like honorable men who speak the truth and put action to their speech.

look at this crap that is choking us. ceo's who pillage their companies, then declare bankrupsy or worse, have the us govt bail them out. all of this under a regime that has disgraced this country and put us in a position that no one trusts us. how could they.

we onesidedly defend israel and forget about the palestineans. we wage war on countries and don't come to the rescue of those at the mercy of genocide (darfur, zimbabwe) it's no damn wonder the islamic world hates us. there's a measure of 'right' in their--to us--distorted thinking and acting.

you will all vote for your conviction and i encourage you to do so......but behind that vote, i pray you think of what's at stake. more of big business, big oil, big interest, big bankers, big assholes, big thieves and everything else that is low and disgusting, OR.....a conviction that seeks the redemption of our constitution, rethinking of how are brothers and sisters are sent to die and equality in education, work, gender and honer in the world arena.

there's an old, old saying....keep your friends close, and your enemies closer. why? because you need to know them, communicate with them, convey meaning to them and hopefully change them. for i can assure you, the best friend is a previous enemy. for they are true.

we're not here to change the world....we're here to show the world. and what do we show them? think about it. diplomacy will work wonders. we don't need to think about building our arsenals. we already have ten times more armaments than the rest of the world.

we need to start being good neighbors, good friends, less selfish and more compassionate.

remember, regime change starts at home.

vote your conscience......vote for change...vote for your constitutional heritage and vote for what we leave to our children and what we give to the world....but vote.

dwmte

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