Parenting

[eredien]

“Say what you want to say about me,” Palin said, “but I raised a combat vet. You can’t take that away from me.”

I truly don't understand what she's saying here. She raised a son who grew up to make his own decisions about which institutions and ideals to support. That's parenting in a nutshell. Does she want accolades for happening to be the mother of her son, because when her son was able to make his own decisions about which institutions and ideals to support, he decided to support institutions and ideals whose aims his mom happened to agree with?

If he'd decided to support an institution or ideal she did not agree with, would she then reject identical accolades from those who told her that she must be proud to have raised such a courageous, self-aware, self-sacrificing child, because the institution or ideal he decided to support was something she could not support?

Why does it seem like she wants to take credit for a decision her son made because she is his parent? It's not just Palin--my parents do this too, and I think a lot of parents do. If we make decisions that our parents agree with, they say that it's because they raised us right, and if we make decisions our parents disagree with, they not only say that they can't support our decision, but wonder where they went wrong raising us. It's natural for a parent to rejoice at the success of a child and be sad at their child's failures. But the measure of success of a parent as a parent must be composed of more than the parent's perception of what their child's successes or failures are, and the measure of success of a human being who has children must be composed of more than that human's perceived success or failure as a parent.

Comments

[eredien]

I don't know that it's clear from that quote in context of her speech that she was asked not to speak regarding the military. I would never have known that she was asked not to speak out about the military unless I'd read it elsewhere:

Now, I’ve been asked to speak today, not as a politician. No, as something more – something much more. I’ve been asked to speak as the mother of a soldier, and I am proud of that distinction. You know, say what you want to say about me, but I raised a combat vet, and you can’t take that away from me.

Read more: http://www.thesarahpalinblog.com/2010/08/video-and-transcript-of-restoring-honor.html#ixzz0zSyHWqun
Under Creative Commons License: Attribution

From reading that it looks like she was asked to speak specifically about the military. Maybe, maybe not...it's all somewhat confusing.

I am also pretty clear that the "possible subtext" you are referring to above was, well, text:

It is so humbling to get to be here with you today, patriots – you who are motivated and engaged and concerned, knowing to never retreat. I must assume that you too know that we must not fundamentally transform America as some would want. We must restore America and restore her honor!

Now, I’ve been asked to speak today, not as a politician....etc.

Read more: http://www.thesarahpalinblog.com/2010/08/video-and-transcript-of-restoring-honor.html#ixzz0zSz10QtC
Under Creative Commons License: Attribution

It's clear to me, as I think it's clear to you, that the people who were there at the rally were definitely part of the "same group" ("you who know") bonding together against those threats. But I don't think those threats were unspecified; I think those threats were the people who would "fundamentally transform America as some [Palin makes it clear that the "we" she was talking to was not the transformers] would want."

I don't know if she thinks those people are the Taliban, or not, because she doesn't really say that. But it does leave it wide open to interpretation.

As others have said, she wasn't speaking very precisely. It sounds like she made an emotional utterance on the spur of the moment and got an emotional response from her audience, so I'm not sure how much more analysis one can do.

I can see the analogy to being queer, which it is is completely valid to say is also an inseparable part of one's life experience and identity.

I would definitely agree with all of this. I want to make one thing clear: I was giving queer identity as an example, earlier, but I think that the principle holds no matter what the identity is, really.

[zdenka]

I've mostly been trying to avoid Sarah Palin, actually, because I have mixed feelings about the whole Palin phenomenon. So I don't know what-all she said or has been saying, except in a very general sense.

I based the not-talking-about-the-military statement solely on seishonagon's first comment to this entry. Likewise, I was just looking at the few sentences of hers that you quoted. If the rest of her speech shows that my comments were wrong or incomplete, I am not surprised.

About identity: I broadly agree with you, but I would also say that identity can be mutable; what is important to a person's identity can change over time, and what is essential to one person's identity might not be to another. I suspect we agree that each person is the best interpreter of her own identity and what is central to it.