Going Rogue: An American Life
Very early in Going Rogue: An American Life, Sarah Palin鈥檚 memoir, the reader learns that she has had 鈥渁 drive to help, an interest in government and current events since I was a little kid鈥� and that in grade school she was fond of the Pledge of Allegiance. Ronald Reagan, one of her heroes, makes his first of numerous cameos on Page 3. Palin reveals that she was something of a bookworm growing up, and she even names several publications that she read regularly.聽
Further along in Chapter 1, Palin recounts an incident, a quasi-epiphany, when the heavy hand of government first revealed itself to her, as she and her brother were pulled over by an Alaska State Trooper for driving a snowmobile on a public road: 鈥淎 couple of kids on a snowmachine up against a big dude with a gun and a badge. I couldn鈥檛 help wondering about his priorities, if he really didn鈥檛 have more important things to do, like catching a bad guy, or maybe helping a poor old lady haul in her firewood for the night. Looking back, maybe that was my first brush with the skewed priorities of government.鈥�
Perhaps as telling as what Palin asserts in her memoir 鈥� and she asserts many things, quite frequently throughout, often with few if any supporting details 鈥� is what is not mentioned until the second page of the 鈥淎cknowledgments鈥�: 鈥淭hanks as well to Lynn Vincent for her indispensable help in getting the words on paper.鈥� Vincent has been described officially as Palin鈥檚 鈥渃ollaborator鈥� and unofficially as a coauthor, but she doesn鈥檛 rate more than this vague description that could apply to a stenographer. It鈥檚 an odd decision by the author, who bills herself as 鈥渁n everyday American鈥� who is not driven toward 鈥減ower or fame or wealth.鈥� She is all about other people, family, friends, public service, what鈥檚 good for Alaska and America.
Indeed, she resigned as governor a year before her term was up for the sake of Alaska, which, she writes, was beset by politically motivated and frivolous Freedom of Information requests and ethics complaints that were costing both her and the state time and money: 鈥淔inancial hardship is painful but bearable. Loss of reputation I can take. But I could not and cannot tolerate watching Alaska suffer.鈥� She would carry on the fight outside of government.
Earlier in her career, she made a very similar decision, to resign as chairman of the Alaska Oil and Gas Conservation Commission, a regulatory body, because she didn鈥檛 feel she was getting the necessary support from her superiors on ethics issues and because she was under a gag order: 鈥淚 knew what I had to do, so I resigned 鈥� stepping away from the ethical lapses and hierarchical blinders to effect change where I could 鈥� on the outside.鈥�
The assertions keep coming. Despite all her reading, she writes: 鈥淓verything I ever needed to know, I learned on the basketball court.鈥� Of her hero, she opines, 鈥淩eagan won the Cold War without firing a shot.鈥� Some American servicemen who defended their country from 1945 to 1989 might take exception to that statement. When she has vegans over to dinner, she tosses a salad and lectures them gently, 鈥淚f God had not intended us to eat animals, how come He made them out of meat?鈥� This, of course, serves equally well as an argument for cannibalism. 鈥淚f tea parties had been in vogue back then, I would have thrown the first one...鈥� is a phrase worthy of a certain Hall of Fame catcher.
Yogi-isms aside, at times the facts clearly get the better of the author. For example, when she is being quizzed by Steve Schmidt, John McCain鈥檚 senior campaign strategist, about her knowledge of the Middle East, she writes: 鈥淗e wanted to know whether I understood the origin of the conflict, the history of the Middle East, and how thirteenth- and fourteenth-century differences had evolved into today鈥檚 murderous rivalry between the Sunni and Shia [Muslims].鈥� The bloodletting began in the 7th century.
What is most surprising about Palin鈥檚 account of the 2008 presidential campaign is how infrequently she went 鈥渞ogue,鈥� and how dutifully she did what she was told, said what was written for her, and wore the clothes that were purchased for her. We know she didn鈥檛 like it because she describes what she was thinking while she was following orders. If this were a novel, suspense would be building for the great moment when she would confront John McCain, for whom she has nothing but praise: 鈥淛ohn, call off the dogs; I gotta be me. I can help you win this thing.鈥� The moment never comes.
For a person who has served on regulatory boards and in various government positions since 1992, Palin is not fond of regulations or government. In fact, she asserts that the recent financial crisis was not caused by Wall Street, but by government 鈥渕eddling.鈥� Then, on the next page, she seems to temper that statement by quoting another of her heroes, Margaret Thatcher, who described capitalism as being beset periodically by 鈥済ales of creative destruction.鈥� Thatcher continued, 鈥淭o lament these things is ultimately to lament the bracing blast of freedom itself.鈥�
If Palin were president, it is clear that she would let the financial north winds blow and blow until they blew themselves out, all in the name of helping.
David Holahan is a freelance writer in East Haddam, Conn.
