07/22/2010 12:00 am
Culture
Liz Smith: The Future (Really!) of Bristol Palin
What's really going on behind the doors of politics – and family?
© AP
"I AM Aretha, upbeat, straight-ahead and not to be worn out by men and left singing the blues," said Miss Franklin, one of my total idols.
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I know you guys reading me don’t believe in astrology. Or, if anyone asked you, while you were deathlessly reading our wOw expert, Peggy Rometo, you’d say you didn’t believe a word of it.
But as we no longer have people reading chicken entrails or casting dice with the universe, I do love to read astrology. I take a great joy in it. And who should look down on this "science," I ask you, the people who are adoring Leonard DiCaprio’s latest movie, which is about instilling dreams in other people’s heads? Heck, we can believe in almost anything these days after perusing the vagaries of daily life. (And it was ever thus. Reading "signs" and enjoying bear-baiting and other festivities.)
So, I read with great interest my friend Shelley Ackerman’s starry predictions about the projected wedding bells of Bristol Palin and Levi Johnston. Shelley is ecstatic about same. She believes Bristol is the more mature of the two Alaskan youngsters and "the one to watch." She adds, "Although her taste in men is questionable who were you into at age 16? Her (Bristol’s) karmic burden is intense and the relationship with her mom will prove to be an unfolding saga of mythic proportions." Shelley goes on to say, "I think their ‘karma’ wasn’t done (Bristol’s and Levi’s) and I think Bristol’s struggle involves not her being a very young mom, but of freeing herself from her mother’s huge presence and questionable values. I think she will one day emerge as her own woman with a strikingly different voice than her mom’s. Time will tell."
In case you care, Bristol was born on October 18, 1990, and is a Libra with Mercury, Venus and probably the moon also in Libra. All Libras are struggling for balance and they live their lives in pursuit of what is TRUE! Shelley adds, "And the problem is that once you’ve defined what’s true, you grow and live, and what was true yesterday no longer holds. It’s a brilliant sign but a bitch of a sign. Libran lives always crash big time." It seems, according to Ackerman that "they clear the BS so that they can reach a deeper level of that elusive truth."
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THE OTHER "level" that Bristol and Levi will reach is the one we most wonder about. Did they get back together as true lovers who couldn’t bear the pressures of being separated or have they been "set up" to get back together to further the interests of her mother, Sarah Palin, who evidently has quite a big career ahead of her as a Republican stalwart and/or maybe even, a Republican candidate for president?!
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THERE ARE two questions in play here. Was it Romeo and Juliet? Two star-crossed lovers where the Juliet in question found herself pregnant all of sudden on the frightening stage of her mother’s being introduced as a candidate for vice president of the U.S.? And is it true love? The getting back together in the recent interval is somehow very, very nice, cordial, charming and devoutly to be wished for by all those who believe marriage matters and children should not be publicly left as illegitimate? Or is it just political expediency now? Levi Johnston apologizes for the things he revealed unwisely about his about-to-be in-laws. He folds and decides to go "along with the gag," apologizing, and creeping back into the Palin fold where his bread will be buttered.
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There is a mindset that would argue, it doesn’t matter why they got back together, as long as they are happy and the relationship works for the benefit of their child. But I would counter that it most definitely matters "why" they got back together.
If it was in any way political to benefit Sarah, that is yet again, another misstep on her part. I recall vividly the constant back and forths we had on this site about how their relationship wasn’t going to work and it would be a matter of months, not years before he left Bristol and sure enough….those like myself were right.
However on the flip side, if they did reunite for political reasons, they certainly won’t be the first couple to do that. But unlike other notable politicians, Palin’s biggest hurdle is no one (except the yahoos that admire her) respect her and take her seriously. Something like this which is easy to discover the underlying truth, would be yet again another embarrassment for her already tarnished reputation.
I maintain that the last thing Sarah Palin wants is her daughter to be married to this immature young man. I suspect if she had her wish, Levi would go to the lower 48 and disappear. But he is the father of her grandson and she has to tolerate him and make nice so the kid has some sort of relationship with his sperm donor. I really don’t see how this benefits Sarah Palin politically. Her supporters know all about the pregnancy, the illegitimate child, the break up, Levi’s fame whoring, etc and that has not diminished their support. Those who hate Palin are not going to be persuaded to like her because these 2 young people decide to marry after all. And for the 2% of the population that is indifferent to Sarah Palin…I suspect they are indifferent about this situation as well.
Levi may think he is getting back on the gravy train…at that could be his motive. I don’t think Sarah and Todd Palin are ecstatic about this development. He abandoned their daughter once, broke her heart, and is likely to do so again. Face it..he is no prize son-in-law. In fact, if he continues his drama and fame whoring , he will be a political liability to Palin.
My guess is Palin is losing a whole lot of sleep over this development but keeping her mouth shut and hoping for the best.
This is so reminiscent of the Mary Cheney situation. Convinced that all Republicans hate gays, both John Kerry and John Edwards made a big point about Mary Cheney being a lesbian in the debates…thinking that the hated *religious right* and hated *family values* people would be apalled by it and reject Bush/Cheney. It backfired big time. Now…convinced that those same hated groups hate mothers with illegitimate children…the meme is that Palin is forcing this marriage so she can win over those groups should she aspire to further political office. Newsflash…those groups don’t care about it. And to the extent they do care about it, they are probably in the camp of *why won’t Levi just go away?*
Katherine: No, Kerry and Edwards were not at all convinced that all republicans hate gays since they knew that not to be so and that statement alone defies logic. They mentioned Mary Cheney because of the hypocrisy regarding this issue. Bush had called for a constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage, but Cheney had said that the matter should be left to the states; but in 2003 the Supreme Court knocked down the anti-sodomy law in Texas and the evangelicals responded to Scalia’s ferocious dissent in ways typified by James Dobson, who said this was "our D-Day, or Gettysburg, or Stalingrad." The pressure from the religious right was now too great for Bush to resist, and he began to speak out in support of the banning by constitutional means. Meanwhile certain anti-homosexual advocates were engaging in homosexual faith based sex behind closed doors in their rectory and in congressional closets.
I think one can have a beloved family member who is gay and still oppose same sex marriage without being a hypocrite and that was NOT what those barbs were about in the debate. I can still see Edward’s smirk as he brought it up in an effort to rile Cheney. Same smirk on Kerry’s face. If Cheney and Bush were some rabid gay haters like Fred Phelps…the issue MIGHT be hypocrisy. Clearly they are not. Of course, the current President said he opposed same sex marriage during the campaign and it appears took a bit of a Cheney approach in that he wouldn’t call for a constitutional amendment to ban it (neither would Cheney) and would have repealed the Defense of Marriage Act (by default leaving the issue to the states). Although Obama didn’t quite have the political guts to acknowledge that his waffling would have that result
I’m more in the Cheney/Obama camp…except I couldn’t say I am opposed to gay marriage. Its a matter of complete indifference to me. And frankly, I think it is to most other Republicans and conservatives I know, read or listen to.
You have perhaps forgotten a mini-scandal in which an Assembly of God minister *advising* then Governor Bush secretly taped conversations with him on the issue of gays and Bush said he was not going to attack them in order to win over the religious right. And that this advisor was sent packing very early in the 2000 campaign when he objected to inviting gay activists to Bush campaign events. And asked Bush if he had pledged not to hire gays and Bush responded…no I pledged not to FIRE gays.
And..while liberals may know that most Republicans don’t hate gays (actually I don’t know of any people who DO with the exception of Fred Phelps and his extended family who are Democrats if they are anything) they certainly like to sell that meme to the masses just like they are currently selling the meme that Tea Party members are rascists.
Republican Party.
Bristol and Levi may have a better shot at a successful relationship than Chelsea Clinton and Mark Mezvinski. No one can choose their parents, but Chelsea has enough of an ethical burden in her own family without marrying into Marks’ family. Marc’s father is a "big time" convicted felon:
Chelsea and Mark. She’s a hedge trader. He’s an investment banker with Goldmann Sachs. Don’t need to wish them luck. They’re both rolling in it. Says more than most want to hear.
I think that "corrupt" families carry an insidious curse. Whether it’s sexual abuse, verbal abuse or securities fraud, the children are raised in an environment where corruption and self-deceptive thinking are prevalent. It is the pattern of self-deceptive thinking that is passed to the children - allowing them to give themselves permission to tell themselves that all the rules DON’t apply to them.
I think Chelsea has two things working against her: her father may have some kind of sexual addiction (maybe like Gore), and her mother chose to stay with him after serial offenses and the revocation of his law license. Both items are toxic to a child’s sense of self, and make Chelsea susceptible to not only marrying someone who is self-deceptive, and has a tendency towards corruption, but would make her more likely to stay married long-term to a corrupt individual.
The fact that Chelsea and Marc come from families rife with corruption is a serious handicap to their future and their success. It’s not their faults by any means, but they must live with the "family themes" and live counter to the this toxic culture. It’s not as easy as it seems.