Palin 2012: You Betcha!

A colleague in my English Department stumbled across this pin on his way into his local grocery store. I'm afraid it's just the type of thing I fall in love with, for so many reasons--not the least of which is my uncertainty about whether or not it's actually serious.

So a-googling I went to find a copy of the pin I could call my own. No luck--though I did find a surprising amount of "Palin 2012" paraphernalia available: T-shirts with pics of the lovely governor looking pensively (dare I say, presidentially?) into the distance, the White House in the background; pins with "Palin 2012" emblazoned over the silhouette of a moose; "You betcha!" bumper stickers.

I also learned, with equal parts astonishment, horror, and delight, that there is an actual movement to get this woman into the White House.

Even more astonishing, horrifying, and delightful: this is not--I repeat, not--merely the cravings of a lunatic fringe.

Last November, the Rasmussen poll found that 64% of Republicans identified Palin as their choice for the 2012 presidential nominee--with Huckabee and Romney, her closest contenders, at 12% and 11% respectively. A Gallup poll agreed: 67% of Republicans and Republican-leaning independents said they would like to see Palin run for president in 2012. (In the Gallup poll, respondents were not asked to choose among possible candiates, so Romney and Huckabee fared better--62% and 61%, respectively. But they still trailed her.)

As of last week, some of the glow may have faded a bit, but Rasmussen still found that a majority of Republicans (55%) and of Evangelical Christians (57%) think Palin should be the role model for the Republican party in the future.

So is the "Dream Comes True" pin serious or ironic? I found both answers unsatisfying. On the one hand, in perhaps most other contexts, it would be pretty clearly insulting. On the other hand, I have seen her and her fans embrace much of this image--check out the Sarah Palin 2012 calendar given out as a free gift with a subscription to the conservative rag "Newsmax."

Palin is the moose-hunting hockey mom, giving her Thanksgiving interview while some guy slaughters a turkey behind her, championing our country's proud Joes (Six-Pack, the Plumber, etc.)--the straight-talking maverick from the proud state of Alaska. (And, too, she was a beauty queen...)

In the end, a History colleague of mine clarified it for me: the pin is probably meant ironically, but there is a group of her followers who might not find it so.

Ah, ambiguity.

P.S. Thanks to that English colleague who saw my distress at not being able to find the pin, and who generously gave it to me. It now leans proudly against my SWAT Team sno-globe--which, of course, plays a music box version of Bach's lovely "Minuet in G."