Ron Binsrick: Palinism is Reaganism

Via Rob Binsrick of the Louisville Economic Policy Examiner:

Since the release of her new book entitled “Going Rogue” the popularity of Sarah Palin by her fans has hit stratospheric levels. Large and enthusiastic crowds have greeted her at each stop. The Associated Press dispatched eleven of their journalists just to research the book. And she even helped the almighty Oprah achieve her show’s highest ratings in over two years.

However, some people still do not understand the essence of Palin’s popularity. That was made very evident in the past couple of weeks by viewing the popular left-stream news magazine ‘Newsweek’. In its November 23rd edition, writer Evan Thomas tries to portray Palin as being a huge problem for the Republican Party, contrasting her with other popular GOP icons Ronald Reagan and Dwight Eisenhower.

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Reagan’s appeal to the middle and to those ‘Reagan Democrats’ was not his policies but rather his optimism and more so his ‘Americanism.’ When Reagan went abroad he did not apologize for America like Obama has done, but instead he sold America as the best brand available in the world. He was completely unabashed in his pride for America and he was strong, forceful and vocal in his disdain for communism and other perceived evils in the world. Contrast that with how Obama presents America abroad and bows to leaders of communist states.

Reagan stood at the Brandenburg Gate with the leader of the Soviet Union sitting near him and told Mikhail Gorbachev to tear down that wall. Obama, on the other hand, sat silently as Daniel Ortega, the president of Nicaragua, berated the United States during the Summit of Americas back in April. Rather than defend his nation, Obama sought only to defend himself by declaring that he hoped Ortega was not blaming him for things that occurred when he was just a toddler.

Suffice it to say that Ortega would not have done the same had it been Reagan sitting in the room with him instead of Obama. And even if he did, Reagan would have leapt to America’s defense as soon as he had the opportunity. The same would be true of Palin, and that is why people feel so passionately about her.

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Palin is a living example of what Reagan envisioned for all Americans – someone who could start out from humble beginnings but achieve high levels of success in life. As her book title suggests, she has lived ‘An American Life’ and it is just the kind of which Reagan would have approved.

Palin also wears her conservatism on her sleeve and is unashamed to talk about it. The same was very true of Reagan. He decried the ‘evil empire,’ socialism and government waste. And like Reagan, while she shares his conservative social views she has not tried to promote them via legislation – a fact about Reagan which Thomas correctly pointed out in his article. One of the scare tactics used by liberals against Palin was that she would attempt to push her social and religious values on all of America even though there was no evidence that she had ever tried to do so in Alaska.

Read the rest of Binsrick's article here. It's excellent.

(H/T Coda)