Larry Beinhart’s Body Politic: Reality Check

by Larry Beinhart, September 25, 2008

Here we are, rockin’ and rollin’ on the roller coaster ride of another presidential campaign. Up and down, rippin’ around the corners.

At one moment, it looked like a straight-ahead, smooth road to the White House for Barack Obama. After all, the Republicans had been running all branches of the government since 2001 and everything they’d done had turned out wrong. Hillary did her part for Obama. Bill did too.

Focus on the Family organized prayers for a deluge on the night of Obama’s acceptance speech in the open air stadium. But there were clear skies. As if God had finally switched sides (or Focus had one of their prayer glitches and actually called for Texas, a Republican stronghold, to be flooded by mistake.) Barack appeared and seemed worthy of the satire that “The Daily Show” did of him as the Lion King.

Then, suddenly—They Were Back.

They had a pit bull wearing lipstick (her own description). She became the new number one celebrity. From the PTA to the governor’s mansion to the podium at the Republican National Convention. A moose-huntin’, boot-wearin’, ex-beauty queen mom from the backwoods. Davy Crockett with cleavage and five chillun.
There is no doubt about it, she is not an elitist. She is an authentic Wal-Mart shopper. When she was mayor, she helped transform her hometown of Wasilla from the crystal meth capital of Alaska into the crystal meth capital of Alaska with a strip mall of big-box stores.