The Susan B. Anthony List Candidate Fund, a political action committee that supports pro-life female office-seekers, endorsed Sarah Palin's 2006 Alaska gubernatorial run because she was the whole package - a politically astute, smart, traditional woman.
We were thrilled to watch her rise. She was a popular governor whose ego did not eclipse her determination to reform. She gained a reputation for clearing out the good ol' boy underbrush in government. Not one to stir up the stew of feminist victimhood, she advanced a new sort of self-reliant, obligation-oriented feminism. As a woman with traditional values doing nontraditional things, she was a fresh role model. She and her husband advanced this philosophy together, as equal partners, while bringing their entire family along in the project.
Not one of us stopped to consider her wardrobe.
To all those feminist organizations so deeply threatened by her pro-life political position and meteoric rise, I have a message: Shut up and listen. She is the future.
No matter how one tries to destroy her, this woman's core values do not change. She knows who she is - and her outfits are not central to it. What is central are the timeless principles she embodies and seeks to advance. Her focus is on the obligations that we have to our children, our families and our nation.
When she is ridiculed for her decision to bring her son Trig, diagnosed with Down syndrome, into the world and then bring him along on the campaign, she only becomes stronger.
Why do you think she's attracting crowds of 10,000 25,000 and 60,000? Because she reminds us that each of us as individuals has the power to change our world, to organize solutions to others' sufferings - one decision, one individual at a time. She understands and articulates a principle about which we need to hear more - the value inherent in those deemed imperfect.
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