Every now and then, in walks a man or woman who turns the world inside out and upside down.Barack Obama was such a man.
And now, Sarah Palin is such a woman.
Just as the first African American on a presidential ticket revealed to us how little we have come to terms with race in this country, the first woman in the Republican vice presidential slot has revealed how far we still have to go in our gender reckoning.
To put it plainly, Palin is seriously messing with our templates. We know what political women in the USA are supposed to look like -- and she's not it.
Palin fits no model we've ever seen, and we're not sure what to do with her. Equal parts Dr. Quinn Medicine Woman and Stands With A Fist -- with a little Barbarella thrown in -- Palin is a unique and unfamiliar brand.
She's what some might call "Trouble." And proud of it, too.
Reactions from all sides have fallen somewhere in the realm of hysteria. Republicans, 85% of whom view Palin favorably, are delirious that they -- the maligned party of traditional family values -- have produced the most credible, kick-caribou female candidate in U.S. history.
Democrats, only 24% of whom view Palin favorably, are dumbfounded -- sort of the way Republicans were when a new guy named Obama edged out a stable of Democratic veterans for the presidential nomination.
Who is this woman who could be only a heartbeat away from the presidency? Where did she come from? How could John McCain do such a thing?
Talk about the audacity of hope.
A winning gamble
McCain can hardly wipe the grin off his face. He gambled and won -- Big Time. His biggest score has been among white women, who have abandoned the Obama camp and hauled their teepees over to the McCain reservation. Before the Republican convention, white women were leaning 50% for Obama to 42% for McCain, according to ABC News/Washington Post polling. Post-convention, the numbers have shifted to 53% for McCain and just 41% for Obama among white women.
That big shift suggests a new political timeline: BP and AP. Before Palin and After Palin.
In the relatively few days since McCain announced the Palin pick, little has been left unsaid about this youngish (44), attractive, athletic woman who wears librarian glasses and a retro hairdo.
Most Americans -- and, plausibly, most Martians -- by now know her narrative, as they say. Frontier huntress, "Sarah Barracuda" basketball star, erstwhile beauty queen, hockey mom, government reformer, mother of five, including a 5-month-old special needs child. And, oh yeah, her unmarried 17-year-old daughter is five months pregnant. Whatever. Life's a trip, right?
Palin is demonstrably pro-life, even to the extent of protecting those conceived through rape or incest. She's an evangelical Christian who speaks fluent God. She doesn't mind the idea of culling wolves with rifles from helicopters, though she hasn't shot any herself. She wants to drill in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.
And those are just the facts. A full accounting of the rumors and myths circulating about Palin would fill this page. Briefly, she didn't pose in a bikini with a rifle, doesn't want to teach creationism in school, isn't a secessionist and didn't ban books. Palin did ask the librarian in Wasilla (twice) how she would respond if the community wanted some books excluded from the library.
The larger truth is that we still don't know much about Palin other than her résumé points, which are fascinating if not necessarily convincing as to her qualifications for vice president. The Oct. 2 debate with Joe Biden should help voters more fairly assess whether she's up to the job.
Brilliant or blunder
Palin either will be the new Margaret Thatcher or the old Harriet Miers -- either a rock-'em-sock-'em stroke of Churchillian genius or a tail-dragging, head-banging Baghdad blunder.
What has become abundantly clear in the meantime is that we have reached a crossroads in our nation's gender trajectory. Always burbling beneath the surface of American life and politics, gender has erupted the past few days into a geyser of emotion and vitriol.
What kind of woman do we want in high office? What kind of woman is acceptable?
Feminists have always called the shots on this question. The quintessential woman was pro-choice, interchangeable with any man -- and her name was Hillary Rodham Clinton. Feminists necessarily have viewed Clinton's defeat as a sexist manifestation of patriarchal betrayal because, really, what other explanation could there be? Clinton was perfectly molded according to the feminist template. Clearly, she lost because she's a woman, disappointed women told themselves.
But the greatest insult was yet to come. Republicans -- those anti-woman, patriarchal Neanderthalian gun-clingers -- nominated a woman whom Democrats would call a "Stepford wife," except she'd beat them to a bloody pulp with a moose antler.
The irony is almost too on-the-nose to be enjoyable, but there is other cause for satisfaction. Even if Sarah Palin ultimately fails to prove herself worthy of second-in-command, her enthusiastic reception has proved that there are other kinds of women in the USA -- lots of them -- who have a different idea about what's best for womankind.
The sisterhood has been put on notice.