By Bill Starlin

Affirmative action immediately conjures images of unqualified people of color, and quotas, and all manner of conjecture. Its intended purpose is to level the playing field when it comes to advancement opportunity. Many white males, however, see it as reverse discrimination and a barrier to their own progress.

While quotas have been illegal since the judgment of Bakke v. University of California , there is always the idea that when a person of color inhabits a seat of high standing, that tokenism is involved. What is overlooked however is the advancement of white women under the same program. In fact, many would argue that they were the number one beneficiaries of affirmative action.

The discussion of gender politics is often difficult, as the “oppressor” doesn’t want to be labeled the bad guy, and the oppressed often tend to see everything as discriminatory. We are generally uncomfortable with expressing where we stand for fear of argument.

However, during the last US Presidential Election, the G.O.P seemed to take a quantum leap over the Democrats when they selected the charismatic Sarah Palin to run on their ticket with Arizona Senator John McCain. Generally regarded as the party of exclusion, it initially seemed a stroke of genius on the part of the Republicans. Hilary Clinton had lost the primary by the slimmest of margins, and adding a woman to the ticket as Vice President would effectively galvanize half of the population (more women than people of color) to their cause. In the days following her choice, a struggling McCain had actually taken the lead in the race, and his campaign was off its death bed.

Upon surface inspection she was almost too good to be true: a female governor with star power who translated well on television. Strong in speech, and full of conviction for her beliefs, in a party dominated by old white men, this was a wet dream. All was well until she actually spoke. You could tell almost immediately that something was amiss. The first thing you would hear was how attractive she was. Then there was mention of her community college pedigree, and her career aspiration to be an ESPN sportscaster.

It appeared to everyone that wasn’t a rabid conservative, that she was patently unqualified as a legitimate candidate. While she was certainly charming and politically savvy, her knowledge base was at best pedestrian and at worst alarming considering the US’ constant presence as world policeman and its stockpile of nuclear weapons. Rather than galvanize women, the move eventually backfired, leaving former Hilary supporters outraged that the G.O.P. would attempt to replace the much more qualified Clinton with effectively a talking head.

Palin was indeed electric, rallying the Republican base with assertions of Obama “palling around with terrorists” but notions of seeing Russia from her house projected a measured incompetence. More importantly, it showed a woman unwilling or unable to learn what it took to manage her position. She showed neither the desire to learn or study anything that would increase her knowledge nor the ability to make informed decisions on national and global affairs.

It smacked of the word that no one was willing to say. Tokenism. Patronage was no longer the sole domain of the Democratic party. Sit there and look pretty while we do all the heavy lifting. But Palin was the worst kind of token: one whose qualifications couldn’t back up her placement, and one who was unaware that she was in fact a token. She wanted to be active. She wanted to get out in front of the people. In her search to show she belonged, she became more of a caricature of herself than Tina Faye could ever be.

America’s automatic cape flapping when white women are concerned is often the height of hypocrisy. For it does not empower them but relegates them to the eternal second class citizen that will always need rescuing from King Kong. While they graduate schools in higher numbers and with particularly superior distinction, they are always the eternal victim, patiently waiting while men decide how to vote on whether they can place their children in schools or even whether they can choose not to have them.

Without knowing it, Sarah Palin became the very symbol of the token white woman. Had she been truly capable, who knows whether Barack Obama would have won the last election? What is clear is that if The Republican party truly intends to change, perhaps it’s time to infuse some legitimate human capital into their system and welcome ideas from legitimate women. If they continue with the bobble-head route, real women who vote will not be moved and the G.O.P. will have no hope of competing in the next election.

Good Day And Good Luck

-Bill

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Bill Starlin can be reached via E-mail @ Billstarlin@yahoo.com

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