Girl Power! Sarah Palin & Ronald Reagan

Written by Delaney ReesecloseAuthor: delaneyreese Name: Delaney Reese
Email: barnes.russ@gmail.com
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About: See Authors Posts (9) on October 21, 2009

So Sarah Palin will appear on Oprah.

I can’t remember a time when one person—outside of the presidency and not behind the golden EIB microphone—wielded as much influence as Sarah Palin.

Those more aware during the formative years of the Reagan Revolution, I suspect, would rightly point to Ronald Wilson Reagan. A staunch supporter of Goldwater during the ’64 election, Reagan’s singular power helped wrest control of the Republican Party from the moderate, squishy Rockefellers.

Nixon’s animosity towards him and California’s budgetary woes kept Reagan busy and out of the national spotlight for nearly a decade. But, it was the success of his ideas in righting the Golden State that thrust him back into national prominence during the ’76 election. Had he started his campaign earlier, Reagan’s threat to unseat Ford, like he would later unseat Carter, might have worked.

His failed bid for the presidency made him more influential, not less. Pundits and leaders found his wisdom compelling during the disastrous Carter years. And, after those four very long years, the entire nation turned to him to restore American ascendancy.

So, we have Reagan. A man who, by the force of his ideas, influenced—no, changed—the entire national debate.

During the Bush I, Clinton and Bush II years, we had Rush who could speak for the normally silent majority. The vocal minority—the Code Pinkers, Michael Moore, and assorted community organizers—were loud but had very little sticks. They could agitate but not turn the tide of welfare reform, Bush II re-election, Afghanistan and Iraq. It wasn’t until a veritable cosmic alignment of Bush and war weariness gave Barack Obama the presidency and the Democrats the Congress that the left wing lucked out.

We still have Rush, joined now by members of his chorale: Hannity, Levin, Beck, Hewitt and others. As far as we know, most of these talkers, like Rush, won’t deign to take the pay cut and enter elective politics. So, as powerful as they may be, they won’t ever pull the sword from Reagan’s stone.

For the gelatinous, invertebrates of the mythical “new majority,” that Reagan’s mantle will continue to gather dust is a great thing. They say that there must be a modern way forward without the heavy footsteps of the Gipper to lead the way. Righty pundits, on the other hand, fret that for all the potential Republican pols lining up for 2012, there’s not a Reagan amongst them.

They simply can’t see the tree for the forest.

A voice rings out against Obamacare’s inevitable rationing panels—correctly termed death panels, for that’s what they’ve become in Britain and Canada. That voice rationally raises concerns that Obama’s neglecting Afghanistan. With a logic that cannot be denied, dulcet tones eviscerate the Administration’s so-called energy policy—an energy policy that leads to the decline of the dollar and American power.

Sure, she’s been knocked around and mocked. So was Reagan. She’s been forsaken by the Republican intelligentsia and elite. So was Reagan. She has the ability to bring the ruling Democrats to their knees. So did Reagan.

Reagan was one of our greatest and most successful presidents.

Palin could be, too.

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