Sarah Palin's Fifteen Minutes of Fame
Turn on the TV or the radio, go to the drugstore or grocery store, go by a magazine stand, do a little web surfing. You can't spend 15 minutes doing any of these activities without seeing or hearing about Sarah Palin. That's not the 15 minutes Andy Warhol was referring to when he coined the phrase, "15 minutes of fame". To quote wikipedia:
It's ironic that only a few weeks ago McCain and the right were blasting Obama for his celebrity status, comparing him publicly to Paris Hilton. Is it any coincidence that they wanted Americans to think of an African American and a blonde white girl in the same context? Read this London Independent article by Jay McInerney (author of 'Bright Lights, Big City') for more on Palin and right-wing appeals to the American public's latent racism: Jay McInerney: Palin in the land of prejudice.
Certainly Palin's celebrity status is much more of a phenomenom than Obama's. I have heard a lot of people saying that Palin has more experience than Obama because she's a governor, and he's only a Senator. Compare their track records.
Sarah Palin's Political Experience
Palin became governor of Alaska less than two years ago. Alaska's population of under 700,000 is about half that of San Diego. The cities of Austin, TX, Columbus, OH, and Jacksonville, FL EACH have more people than Alaska. Texas has five cities, and California has four cities with populations greater than that of Alaska.
Palin's first political experience was 16 years ago as a City Council member in Wasilla, AK, population 8000. In the city where I live, Irvine, CA (with a population almost one third that of Alaska's), current City Council members held the following former occupations: three teachers, Circuit City Customer Service Rep, and a Century 21 realtor. Just about anyone with ambition, a reasonable platform, and a clean record can become a City Council member of a small city.
Palin was a City Council member for four years before being elected mayor of Wasilla. Wasilla is a very, very small town, with a population lower than the average attendance at a professional hockey game.
Following eight years as mayor, term limits prevented her from running again. After an unsuccessful bid at the Lt. Gov. position in Alaska, she spent two years as the Chairperson of the Alaska Oil and Gas Conservation Commission, and another two years as a Director of Ted Stevens Excellence in Public Service, Inc. This Washington Post article talks more about Palin's relationship with former Alaska Senator Ted Stevens, who was indicted in July 2008 on seven counts of corruption: Palin Was a Director of Embattled Sen. Stevens's 527 Group.
Upon taking a new office, Palin has historically fired anyone who did not agree with her policies. For example, after becoming Mayor of Wasilla, in October 1996, she asked the Wasilla police chief, librarian, public works director, and finance director to resign, and instituted a policy requiring department heads to get her approval before talking to reporters. In January 1997, Palin notified the police chief, Irl Stambaugh, and the town librarian, Mary Ellen Emmons, that they were being fired. Palin said in a letter that she wanted a change because she believed the two did not fully support her administration. McInerny's article cites that she tried to fire the town librarian because she refused to remove certain books from the shelves of the public library.
As Governor, Palin has shown a remarkable disdain for wildlife and the environment. She has sued the Bush Administration for government attempts to protect the polar bear, and she has attempted to prevent the polar bear and beluga whale from gaining status as endangered species. She has supported and legislated in favor of aerial hunting of bears and wolves, a brutal and unethical means of reducing predatory animals. She has been quoted as not believing that global climate change is a by-product of human actions. Read this London Independent article for more information on Palin's environmental record: Palin: the Real Scandal.
Barack Obama's Political Experience
Obama graduated magna cum laude from Harvard Law School in 1991. He directed Illinois Project Vote in 1992, a campaign to register African American voters. In seven months, they accomplished their goal of registering 150,000 voters. He taught Constitutional Law for 12 years at the University of Chicago Law School.
He has served on the Board of Directors of multiple charitable and philanthropic organizations devoted to improving and promoting education and youth leadership and addressing poverty and opportunities for the less advantaged. These include Public Allies, the Woods Fund for Chicago, the Joyce Foundation, the Chicago Annenberg Challenge, the Chicago Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, the Center for Neighborhood Technology, and the Lugenia Burns Hope Center.
Obama served in the Illinois Senate for seven years from 1997 to 2004. The 13th Congressional District which he represented included parts of Chicago, and has a population of over 700,000 people, more than the entire state of Alaska. Duing this time, he sponsored and led bipartisan legislation addressing racial profiling (making Illinois the first state to videotape homicide interrogations), ethics and health care laws, tax credits for low-income workers, welfare reform, and increased subsidies for childcare.
Three years ago, Obama became only the third African American elected to the U.S. Senate. The State he represents, Illinois, is the fifth largest state in the Union, with over 12 million people, 20 times the population of Alaska. He has introduced legislation that addresses transparency in government spending resulting in the creation of the website: www.USASpending.gov. He was the primary sponsor for the Democratic Republic of the Congo Relief, Security, and Democracy Promotion Act. He co-sponsored the Honest Leadership and Open Government Act and he introduced a bill to criminalize deceptive practices in federal elections.
Obama is the author of multiple books, and he has run for president shunning funding from special interest groups.
References: Most of the information on Governor Palin and Senator Obama is from the articles cited, as well as wikipedia references: Barack Obama and Sarah Palin.
15 minutes of fame (or famous for 15 minutes) is an expression coined by the American artist Andy Warhol. It refers to the fleeting condition of celebrity that grabs onto an object of media attention, then passes to some new object as soon as people's attention spans are exhausted. It is often used in reference to figures in the entertainment industry and other areas of popular culture.It seems that Sarah Palin is enjoying just this sort of celebrity. She exploded onto the public conscience in an incredibly short period of time, going from complete unknown to instant fame. She's pretty, she's outspoken and she's controversial, three criteria for instant fame.
It's ironic that only a few weeks ago McCain and the right were blasting Obama for his celebrity status, comparing him publicly to Paris Hilton. Is it any coincidence that they wanted Americans to think of an African American and a blonde white girl in the same context? Read this London Independent article by Jay McInerney (author of 'Bright Lights, Big City') for more on Palin and right-wing appeals to the American public's latent racism: Jay McInerney: Palin in the land of prejudice.
Certainly Palin's celebrity status is much more of a phenomenom than Obama's. I have heard a lot of people saying that Palin has more experience than Obama because she's a governor, and he's only a Senator. Compare their track records.
Sarah Palin's Political Experience
Palin became governor of Alaska less than two years ago. Alaska's population of under 700,000 is about half that of San Diego. The cities of Austin, TX, Columbus, OH, and Jacksonville, FL EACH have more people than Alaska. Texas has five cities, and California has four cities with populations greater than that of Alaska.
Palin's first political experience was 16 years ago as a City Council member in Wasilla, AK, population 8000. In the city where I live, Irvine, CA (with a population almost one third that of Alaska's), current City Council members held the following former occupations: three teachers, Circuit City Customer Service Rep, and a Century 21 realtor. Just about anyone with ambition, a reasonable platform, and a clean record can become a City Council member of a small city.
Palin was a City Council member for four years before being elected mayor of Wasilla. Wasilla is a very, very small town, with a population lower than the average attendance at a professional hockey game.
Following eight years as mayor, term limits prevented her from running again. After an unsuccessful bid at the Lt. Gov. position in Alaska, she spent two years as the Chairperson of the Alaska Oil and Gas Conservation Commission, and another two years as a Director of Ted Stevens Excellence in Public Service, Inc. This Washington Post article talks more about Palin's relationship with former Alaska Senator Ted Stevens, who was indicted in July 2008 on seven counts of corruption: Palin Was a Director of Embattled Sen. Stevens's 527 Group.
Upon taking a new office, Palin has historically fired anyone who did not agree with her policies. For example, after becoming Mayor of Wasilla, in October 1996, she asked the Wasilla police chief, librarian, public works director, and finance director to resign, and instituted a policy requiring department heads to get her approval before talking to reporters. In January 1997, Palin notified the police chief, Irl Stambaugh, and the town librarian, Mary Ellen Emmons, that they were being fired. Palin said in a letter that she wanted a change because she believed the two did not fully support her administration. McInerny's article cites that she tried to fire the town librarian because she refused to remove certain books from the shelves of the public library.
As Governor, Palin has shown a remarkable disdain for wildlife and the environment. She has sued the Bush Administration for government attempts to protect the polar bear, and she has attempted to prevent the polar bear and beluga whale from gaining status as endangered species. She has supported and legislated in favor of aerial hunting of bears and wolves, a brutal and unethical means of reducing predatory animals. She has been quoted as not believing that global climate change is a by-product of human actions. Read this London Independent article for more information on Palin's environmental record: Palin: the Real Scandal.
Barack Obama's Political Experience
Obama graduated magna cum laude from Harvard Law School in 1991. He directed Illinois Project Vote in 1992, a campaign to register African American voters. In seven months, they accomplished their goal of registering 150,000 voters. He taught Constitutional Law for 12 years at the University of Chicago Law School.
He has served on the Board of Directors of multiple charitable and philanthropic organizations devoted to improving and promoting education and youth leadership and addressing poverty and opportunities for the less advantaged. These include Public Allies, the Woods Fund for Chicago, the Joyce Foundation, the Chicago Annenberg Challenge, the Chicago Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, the Center for Neighborhood Technology, and the Lugenia Burns Hope Center.
Obama served in the Illinois Senate for seven years from 1997 to 2004. The 13th Congressional District which he represented included parts of Chicago, and has a population of over 700,000 people, more than the entire state of Alaska. Duing this time, he sponsored and led bipartisan legislation addressing racial profiling (making Illinois the first state to videotape homicide interrogations), ethics and health care laws, tax credits for low-income workers, welfare reform, and increased subsidies for childcare.
Three years ago, Obama became only the third African American elected to the U.S. Senate. The State he represents, Illinois, is the fifth largest state in the Union, with over 12 million people, 20 times the population of Alaska. He has introduced legislation that addresses transparency in government spending resulting in the creation of the website: www.USASpending.gov. He was the primary sponsor for the Democratic Republic of the Congo Relief, Security, and Democracy Promotion Act. He co-sponsored the Honest Leadership and Open Government Act and he introduced a bill to criminalize deceptive practices in federal elections.
Obama is the author of multiple books, and he has run for president shunning funding from special interest groups.
References: Most of the information on Governor Palin and Senator Obama is from the articles cited, as well as wikipedia references: Barack Obama and Sarah Palin.
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