Joe McGinniss and the Disruptive Force Called Sarah Palin

Joe McGinniss' new book -- The Rogue: Searching for the Real Sarah Palin -- is making waves. Certainly that was the author's intent; who knows what plans his publicist, publisher, and other interested parties hatched. Someone leaked the book to the National Enquirer, which broke the story about its gossipy contents. (That reminds me of the wisecrack Tommy Lee Jones made in the first Men In Black movie, in which he picks up a copy of a supermarket tabloid and declares "Best investigative reporting on the planet!")

Personally, I find some of McGinniss' research tactics, especially renting the house next door to Palin's Alaskan residence, very creepy. There was absolutely no need to make such a provocative move in order to prepare a piece of investigative journalism. Reasonably and fairly, he has been publicly taken to task for this action.

Whatever the merits of McGinniss' work, the book doesn't get off the ground without readers' interest about the dirt on Palin's public and private lives. Do people want to know about her? I think so. Palin he has been a disruptive element from the start of political career. Her sudden emergence as a national political figure magnified her power to disrupt. She had a golden moment, in 2008, to disrupt a great many assumptions -- especially liberal ones -- about class and gender. She frittered the opportunity away, settling after the presidential election to embrace a "rogue" posture rather than pursue outsider substance.

That a noodnick Alaskan governor could so get under the skin of so many people fascinates me. Why would anyone care about Palin? After all, she's plainly unfit for higher office. Lots of men, such as Rick Perry, are unfit, too. However, they are not excoriated like Palin was, and continues to be. I've maintained for some time that the reaction to Palin was based on class perceptions. When Palin ran for the VP slot, I spoke with a number of confirmed GOP voters who were horrified by her. They could sit still for George W. Bush (twice), but couldn't envision voting for Palin. The principal reason came down to class: despite the many high-sounding arguments against her policy issues, the gut reason for the thumbs down was that she "wasn't like us." Palin sounded like someone from the wrong side of the tracks, and acted like someone who flaunted coming from the wrong side of the tracks. Women were particularly visceral in their disdain for Palin. Intriguingly, Palin's political views rarely came into play in these discussions. The disregard was about Palin as a person and her perceived class -- or lack of it. By contrast, Harvard-educated Barack Obama was someone the classists understood, or thought they did.

The election brought into play a stubborn reality in American politics: voters are not comfortable electing a woman to the presidency. Hillary Clinton encountered this force and it ultimately gave the edge to Obama. This point was not lost on Michelle Bachmann, who carefully studied Clinton's primary campaign and has used those lessons to shape her handling of the media. To the press' great shame, there was an inordinate focus during the 2008

primaries on Mrs. Clinton's appearance and clothing. Palin also experienced this treatment, although not to the same degree as Clinton did.

Instead, Palin's other, stealth aspect of disruption came into play. Palin was the first female presidential or vice-presidential candidate who had sex appeal. Men could look at Palin and sexually wonder about her. As reported in McGinniss' book, some didn't have to wonder. The book alleges some sexual encounters during Palin's lifetime, including one with a prominent college basketball player. Well, she's human, isn't she? And isn't that ok? However, I do concur with the notion that Palin's moral hypocrisy is annoying and off-putting.

For women, Palin's sexuality was more than just fodder for male leering: it was ominous. She was the younger, somewhat ruthless and aggressive competitor older and/or less attractive women dread. Palin wasn't a nerd, she didn't give a shit about Jane Austen novels, she could have dated the captain of the football team, and she got ahead and not necessarily on merit. This drove arrogant Maureen Dowd and other female classists to unreasoned distraction. Their vitriol toward Palin was, at times, astonishing and revealing of their class prejudices.

Ironically, Hillary Clinton had the best tactics for handling the Palin phenomenon. She simply suggested that people ignore Palin. The classists just couldn't follow that sage advice. Palin was their pinata, and all the classist abuse was hurled at it with full, furious force. Of course, Palin got the last laugh with a big contract from Fox and plenty of publicity, which was exactly what she wanted.

It will be interesting to see the reaction to McGinniss' book. The New York Times' book reviewer, the awful Janet Maslin, basically eviscerated it. (The review's smarmy headline is quite annoying.) To me, the review is a signal that the classists don't want to join forces with a writer whose book was first leaked to the National Enquirer. After all, that's the sort of publication a classist would assume Sarah Palin reads.