Former vice-presidential candidate Sarah Palin, of political and pop culture fame, spoke at Glenn Beck's "Restoring Honor" Rally in Washington, D.C. She spoke "not as a politician" but "as something more - something much more...the mother of a soldier." In her distinction between her two identities, politician and mother of a vet, Palin reinforces the separation between motherhood and the political sphere and the gendered qualities of rhetorical space in America.
She says, "I've been asked to speak as the mother of a soldier, and I am proud of that distinction. You know, say what you want to say about me, but I raised a combat vet, and you can't take that away from me. I'm proud of that distinction, but it is not one that I had imagined because no woman gives birth thinking that she will hand over her child to her country, but that's what mothers have done from ancient days."
In effect, because she raised a vet herself, she is untouchable in her patriotism and her motherhood, which ironically reminds us of Cindy Sheehen's matriotism. Implicit is that politics cannot affect her role and identity as a patriotic mother, that the realm of the mother (the private, the oikos) is distinguishable and mutually exclusive from the political realm (the public, the polis). Watch the clip and notice how Palin's motherhood legitimizes her speech about honor and her Americanism. Also, notice how it legitimizes her telling of these soldiers stories. It's almost as if the honor of the soldier becomes the mother's to bear, much in the same way that the American flag from a military funeral is given to the wife or mother of the fallen.
See The Sarah Palin Blog for a full video and transcript of Palin's speech.
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