Hanging With the Palins? Not for Me.

By Colbert I. King
Saturday, September 27, 2008

I still listen when Bill Clinton speaks, and this week the former president got off a few lines that really got me thinking.

Referring to Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin and her family, Clinton said, "They're wonderful people. And I like the idea that this guy [Palin's husband, Todd] does those long-distance races. Stayed in the race for 500 miles with a broken arm. My kind of guy." "She's hot out there," Clinton said, because Americans can relate to her and her family.

Pardon me, Mr. President: Here's one American who has difficulty relating to the Palins.

I'm confident that I would get along with Sarah Palin if we found ourselves in the same company. I was taught good manners.

But that's not what Clinton meant.

He was suggesting that Americans identify with Sarah Palin.

Count me out.

It's not a question of elitism or snobbery. I'm in no position to look down my nose at anybody; nor do I want to.

Sarah Palin's values, her worldview and those things from which she apparently derives pleasure are what set us far apart. She obviously enjoys the adoring support of many people who believe she sees things their way.

Palin and I just don't see eye to eye.

For instance, I do not now have -- nor am I likely ever to have before departing this vale of tears -- the slightest interest in skinning a moose or in scarfing down a mooseburger. Knowing how to properly field dress a moose is, for Palin, evidently a source of pride. As is her love of mooseburgers.

I simply cannot relate to any of that.

Sarah Palin gets a gold star for being a hockey mom. I don't believe I know any hockey moms or at least any mothers who wittingly bear such a title.

But in my life and work, I've come to know and identify with single moms who successfully raise families. They are, in my book, the real deal; they deserve applause.

I also have great trouble identifying with the Palins when it comes to education.

Those of us in my generation who were fortunate enough to attend college had to work our butts off to get our degrees, and get them on time.

Some of us were the first in our families to continue education beyond high school. It was a financial struggle to enroll in college and remain there for four years.

We certainly didn't want to prolong the sacrifices that our families were making to keep us in school. The pursuit of a college education could not, in our case, turn into a career.

The degree was our goal, education was the basis for achieving it, and that was our focus -- except for parties on the weekend.

A number of us met our life partners on campus. Some of us went on to become commissioned officers in the armed forces. A large number pursued graduate and professional degrees.

Relate to Sarah and Todd Palin?

She attended five colleges over a six-year span before graduating from the University of Idaho. Todd, a part-time oil production operator and summertime commercial fisherman, doesn't have a college degree.

He registered to vote in 1989, when he was 25 years old, and for seven years was a registered member of the Alaskan Independence Party -- a political party that, among its objectives, advocates a vote on Alaska becoming a separate nation.

Again, to the best of my knowledge, there are no secessionists in my circle.

I do know that I don't much care for the government messing around with our families, advocating abstinence only for children -- as does Gov. Palin and, perhaps, people who identify with her.

I do believe in age-appropriate sex education and that teenagers should be informed about the proper use of birth control. And that a girl who finds herself unexpectedly impregnated by an unemployed high school dropout ought to have some choice other than becoming a shotgun bride.

I don't particularly admire heads of the executive branch who try to skirt legitimate legislative inquiries into their official conduct. And I don't think much of executives who allow their subordinates to dishonor subpoenas for sworn testimony. I can't relate to that kind of conduct.

I am the spouse of someone who managed a government enterprise that had more than 70,000 employees. To the best of my recollection, I visited her office only two or three times. I was there for the first and last days on the job, and maybe one or two in between during her three-year tenure.

So I have a tough time identifying with Todd Palin, who hangs out in his wife's office, meddling in Alaska government business and using his "first gentleman" status to settle personal beefs. Some may think that's cute. I think he's riding on his wife's coattails.

If Hillary Clinton won the White House, would Bill hang out there, too?

Hmm. Maybe that's why Bill likes Todd.

Ol' prez can relate to that.

kingc@washpost.com