An insult to women

Four years ago - shortly before the climax of the bitterly-fought US presidential election between George Bush and John 'long-chin' Kerry - I was holidaying in Oslo and staying in a youth hostel. In my dormitory, there happened to be two wholesome, fresh-out-of-college Americans, as well as a menacing, odour-challenged guy who spent the nights on his bed, flicking and clicking a Swiss army knife.

Prudently, I chose to chat only with the American couple, who hailed from Montana and were on a whistle-stop European trip. You could say they were almost in a state of shock at the reception they were getting simply because they hailed from the US. They could not believe the hate Bush generated in Europe, which they could starkly see everywhere: in the press, in graffiti-sprayed messages, in protests outside US embassies, in people who used raw terminology when talking of him.

They admitted that in the US, people sort of live in a bubble and never really take the outside world into account. Once the President is elected, "no one really questions his actions as we feel that that would be unpatriotic." They both harboured Democrat sympathies, and were convinced that it would be a Democratic win. "People have started to think now before they vote," they insisted. It turned out they were wrong, and the Republicans were elected for a second term.

And here we are again. This time around, the prelude to the US election is a world economy that looks increasingly precarious by the day. The outcome of this election will determine how the rest of the world will fare. So like Michael Bolton, last week I followed the vice-presidential debate and with trepidation I can say that the world is doomed. Sarah Palin, running for VP under the Republican ticket, represents the very essence of a modern, Americanised society: an appalling standard of English; a ghastly knowledge of domestic and international affairs; a lack of common sense; and an overdose of cringe-inducing bluffing.

Here's what she said at one point:

"With education, America needs to be putting a lot more focus on that and our schools have got to be really ramped up in terms of the funding that they are deserving [sic]. I come from a house full of schoolteachers. My grandma was, my dad, who is in the audience today, he's a schoolteacher, had been for many years. My brother, who I think is the best schoolteacher in the year... and here's a shout-out to all those third-graders at Gladys Wood elementary school - you get extra credit for watching the debate."

Pur-leese! She would have been very much at home on our very own populist, passion-over-intelligence, Xarabank.

But the thing that grates me most about this Palin woman is that she is a disgrace to women. For the record, I am a fervent believer in sisterhood - not as in siblings or nuns, but as in girlfriends looking out for each other.

I truly think that if all women embraced this principle, the world would indeed be a better place for us and our daughters, and even our men. I'm all for women smashing glass ceilings because it benefits our society - just look at the Scandinavian countries, and what Zapatero's pink government is achieving. I would be the first to vote for Dolores Cristina as a party leader if I were a PN tesserata.

However, I draw the line at women who abuse the sisterhood principle for the sake of their personal ambition. Which is exactly what Palin did last week: "I'm reading on my Starbucks mocha cup, okay? The quote of the day... It was Madeleine Albright, former Secretary of State. Now she said it, I didn't. She said, 'there's a place in Hell reserved for women who don't support other women.'" She misquoted Albright, who actually said: "There's a place in Hell reserved for women who don't help other women." Ignoring the fact that her source is a cup of coffee, and that she managed to misquote even that, she is seriously stating that women would be committing a grievous sin if they fail to vote for her. It's like she's trying to burn her bra with a water pistol.

This is very cheap, and comes from a very shallow woman. An electoral campaign is never about gender, but about which candidate has an agenda that will improve our society. She is an insult to women and in truth is being used by her political party as a mere gender-winning card, which is an even bigger offence. The problem is that Europe seems to see this clearly, but in the US, voters do not.