Today my wife and I headed to Auburn, NY for the cities first ever “Founders Day” an event celebrating 50 years of Alaskan statehood and featuring guest of honor Sarah Palin. Now for those of you wondering why Auburn of all places, mixed into the heart of New York State, would celebrate the founding of Alaska, let me bring you up to speed.
Auburn was home to Secretary of State William Seward who served under President Lincoln and Andrew Johnson, not to mention was Governor of NY. Of the many Seward achievements you may remember from history class his most talked about was the purchase of Alaska from Russia which at the time was mocked under the names “Seward’s Folly”, “Seward’s Icebox” and “Andrew Johnson’s Polar Bear Garden.”
The perception that somehow Seward had wasted American taxpayer money was driven by members of the press, a point not missed by those introducing the media loathed Palin or by the Governor herself. In one of her opening lines Palin noted, (paraphrased) “I betcha when they were looking at that map of the land that is now Alaska, they must have said ‘look, they must be able to see Russia from there’” referring to the much quoted line by satirist Tina Fey that Sarah Palin actually never uttered but has been attributed to her from a series of popular SNL skits.
Today we know Alaska to be resource rich and has paid back its purchase price many, many times over. Seward’s “folley” as the press called it, was anything but.
There was of course endless talk of Seward following a parade and many glaring reminders today so I won’t talk much more about that. The real reason we went and the reason we walked away anything but disappointed was Gov. Palin herself.
We purposely arrived several hours early so we could get as close to the Governor during her speech as possible. The move paid off as we were within ten feet of Palin’s daughter Willow and only twenty feet or so away from both Sarah and her husband Todd. For several hours we sat, enjoying a beautiful day and a great crowd of Palin supporters who, like us, came early to both see and chat about the Governor. The Associated Press has the turnout at some 20,000 people.
Here in New York it is easy to get lulled into the sense that no one shares your conservative ideals. Though I live in a suburb and have lived in a rural part of this state I also originally come from Cheektowaga outside of Buffalo where it is almost impossible not to run into a liberal. Likewise the overwhelming perception is that we conservatives just don’t exist in the tax and spend state. So it was with great joy that I was able to sit back and listen to complaints about Obama spending, Pelosi corruption and love of all things Sarah.
A sorry group of protestors did show up holding signs like, “Polar Bears hate Palin” which is not only dumb but reinforces the stereotype that liberals are nothing but weak tree huggers who value everything not good for America or humans. The only two signs I snapped a photo of (below) were made by a couple of young guys who could use a lesson in both design and message control. Their vague signs were pretty open to interpretation and the T-shirt reading only “poop” really stood out as classy.
Now the Governor wasn’t there to play politics or to rally. She was there for ceremony and to connect. So there was little to actually protest in her words and much for Auburn to be proud of. Not only did she come to town to share in its history, she came early spending yesterday touring not only Auburn but visiting Seneca Falls which stands as a modern monument to the Woman’s rights movement it played an important role in forming.
Our area has been the home to much history. Amelia Bloomer, Harriet Tubman, William Cady Stanton, Frederick Douglas, Susan B. Anthony and more. The little towns across New York State held radical and enriching figures who helped push our nation on civil rights for all. Women proudly spoke in public at Seneca Falls, slaves were freed along the Underground Railroad in the basements of many homes and Frederick Douglas published his newspaper in Rochester.
Palin shared in that history this weekend, taking time to travel with her family to learn about the richness of our area and the Civil Rights movement. Her daughter Willow traveled with the Palin’s and was able to not only see the strong image of her mother commanding an audience here, but was able to receive a lesson in woman’s liberation right in the very place where it began.
While I am not a fan of Barack Obama, I would be pleased if he spent the time to come to Auburn or Rochester to learn about our area and speak with the people who live here. While I probably would not go to his speech I would never consider protesting especially if it were one of ceremony. I proudly went to see writer Arianna Huffington when she came to Brockport, NY as I did Janet Reno and was ashamed to see so few from our area, especially the young people turn up at the college they were there to visit.
It is an honor to have people of distinction, right or wrong on our vision of the issues, leave their mark on where we live. So while I understand why people protest public figures I was glad to see there were at most, ten or thirteen people there actually doing so. The rest shared in the pride and joy of seeing the Governor. (There may have been more but I saw a very small and sorry group with little to say against her)
So for the final sentiment. Let me add that Governor Palin is even more beautiful in public and while I am not one to notice these things my wife was happy to report the “first Dude” is quite the looker himself. There really is an electric quality about the family and when they walked through the door it was as if we were watching a model entering the stage and not a politician.
The Governor has such a warm, folksy way about her and she connects to an audience. I enjoyed listening to the laughter and seeing her seize every moment. As someone who studied a great deal about speech and public address my one criticism for Palin has always been that she speaks too quickly. It is a minor thing and it never comes off as wanting to get off the stage or leave an audience. She actually compensates for that with what she is saying. She just talks very quickly and often jumps over her own applause lines as if excited to get to the next sentiment or give praise about the people around her.
With that said there was little to criticize and a great deal to love.
You can view all of my photos of Sarah Palin visiting Auburn on Flickr.
Update: Conservatives 4 Palin has video from inside the Seward House where Palin got political. Wish I had been able to go to that.
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