I first noticed hints of a problem with Gov. Palin during her acceptance speech at the RNC. Her speech started off tenuous – clearly she was not familiar or comfortable with the national spotlight yet. Eventually, that objection I had to her would fade, as she grew in confidence and familiarity with the process. The other thing I noticed, and what I feel truly did her in in the long run, was her speech patterns. She has a very common tongue, to put it plainly.
When you are comparing her to her opponents, Senators Obama and Biden, she was out of her league when it came to eloquence and polish. Both the Senators are accomplished orators and debators and it showed during the debates and on the campaign trail. What was shocking to me, is the ongoing perception that she was “dumber” than her opponents. Why? Turns out, we have a long history of being biased in our speech.
Most of us are aware that we are now a society driven by image and perception, rather than facts and reality. Combined with our very short attention spans, it really is our Achilles-heel as a nation. Other countries are well aware that they can wait us out and we’ll either forget or move on to a new administration that’s busy trying to prove it’s unlike the old administration, whatever the cost. Ever since the Kennedy/Nixon debates, image has played a central role and perhaps this was never more evident than this past election. The facts were clear that Senator Obama was a liberal, inexperienced, junior politician with little accomplishments in his wake. Yet, he was able to position himself as the equal to a much more senior, accomplished and experienced opponent through the popular media. The messenger eclipsed the message (which was purposely vague for that very reason). So, the question begs to be asked: If Sen. Obama could do it, why was Gov. Palin unable to (position herself as an equal)? Could it be, at least partly, because of her manner of speech?
In many parts of the world, there coexists a “high” and a “low” form of language, the former used in formal discussion and/or by learned persons and the latter used in every day matters or by common persons. Linguists have coined the term “diglossia” to define the practice. The classic example in english is “My Fair Lady” (Pygmalion), where Professor Higgins tries to make his pupil, Eliza Doolite, into a lady by (among other things) teaching her the “Queens English” as opposed to the cockney dialect she is predisposed to. By having her recite things in a common vernacular, the audience comes to see her as simple and uneducated. By the end of the story, we see her very differently, primarily because her dialect has been replaced with what we perceive is a more refined form of speech. Sarah Palin suffers from a dialect that many of us, myself included, like to poke fun at. Kind of a midwestern-ish, long vowel sounding, nasally speech pattern. Personally, I find it annoying, but then again, I’m easily annoyed.
So, do you think that most American’s speak like Sarah Palin or like Joe Biden? I’d have to wager a guess that the former rather than the latter. If that’s true, then why didn’t more voters ‘connect’ with her as ‘one of us’? Or did they? Do we have a misperception that we are ‘smarter’ sounding than we really are, or do we recognize our lack of eloquence and prefer our leaders to have it even if we don’t? Didn’t George W. Bush get elected twice lacking exactly that as well? Have you heard Nancy Pelosi speak? The third ranking person in our government hierarchy is not exactly an inspiring speaker nor a wealth of foreign policy knowledge, yet there she sits.
I don’t have the answers, but it troubles me if we are labeling someone as “dumb” simply because they aren’t a silver tongued devil. Remember, good politicians are not always good leaders, and vice versa. If someone has a problem with stands on particular issues or positions, that’s fair game. But don’t think you get to be the Governor of a state, and a successful one no less, by being anything less than the the very best at what you do.
All Things Weapon 