Sarah Palin's real soul mate

McCain's veep choice is the reincarnation of George W. Bush, as channeled by Karl Rove.

Editor's note: Think you know your hockey mom from your Dubya? Take our Palin-Bush quiz here. You can find Salon's complete coverage of Sarah Palin here.

By Jeff Yang

Read more: George W. Bush, Texas, Alaska, John McCain, Politics, Opinion, Karl Rove, 2008 election, Sarah Palin

Sept. 5, 2008 | As the storm-shrunk Republican National Convention winds to a close, pundits have commented on the eerie absence of the man who, until Thursday evening, remains the party's nominal head: Other than his brief first-day message by satellite, our sitting president, George W. Bush, has been MIA from the St. Paul festivities, mentioned by few and eulogized by even fewer.

But Bush's ghost-at-the-feast status is hardly a sign that the Republicans have abandoned the recipe that won them consecutive terms in the Oval Office. Indeed, last night's official unveiling of Sarah Palin as their presumptive veep proved that the only change they're offering is savvier packaging. In Gov. Palin, the GOP has its new Bush, same as the old Bush, but more polished, more presentable, more user-friendly than the original ever was -- and, they hope, still fresh and unencumbered enough to run as a "maverick" against the legacy of Dubya 1.0's failures.

Mirror, Mirror

On the face of it, the duo seems as different as two individuals could be -- one, an Ivy-educated scion of a political dynasty, raised in wealth and privilege in the deep South, the other a defiantly blue-collar "hockey mom" born and bred in the Union's northernmost state -- but the deeper parallels are uncanny, in career arc, character and political positions, in strengths and flaws.

Both Bush and Palin hail from oil-rich Western expanses -- the second-largest and largest states in the nation, respectively -- whose size and rugged history encourage a particular kind of frontier sensibility: Stubborn, close-mouthed, self-deterministic and paradoxically capable of both hard-partying Saturdays and holy-roller Sundays. (And given that, it's hardly a surprise that both were wild and experimental in their youth, only to embrace deeply fundamentalist Christian convictions later in life.)

Both became governor of their states while still political neophytes, triumphing over veteran opponents despite slender résumés (six years as a part-time small-town mayor for Palin; a failed congressional campaign for Bush) and staggering odds against them. In their gubernatorial campaigns, they emphasized bold ideas and reform, even touting their lack of experience as an asset rather than a liability; while in state office, they became extraordinarily popular, thanks to deft populist instincts and immense personal magnetism, as well as an unusual ability to project an aura of moderation and post-partisanship ("I reached across the aisle"; "I'm a uniter, not a divider") even while engaged in viciously political behavior.

Part of what helps them preserve that firewall is the human cocoons with which they've surrounded themselves, tight circles of devoted long-term insiders whose primary virtue is unflagging loyalty, and who find themselves under furious attack should they, like Palin's ex-brother-in-law Mark Wooten, and a litany of former officials for Bush, dare to break ranks or spill secrets.

It's an environment that encourages a with-us-or-against-us, win-at-all-costs mentality, a mind-set that has been expressed in both their politics and their governance: More than any reforms she has brought to bear, it's Palin's streak of vindictiveness that has alienated her from Republican colleagues in Alaska, while Bush's reflexive belief that the world is the setting for a divine crusade of friends against enemies, good versus evil, is at the core of many of his administration's disastrous foreign policies. (Bush's simplistic reading of the global landscape seems to be echoed by Palin, who has referred to the Iraq war as a "task from God.")

Boy (and Girl) in the Bubble

If there's a common cause for Bush and Palin's less-than-complex worldview -- one that should disturb the security minded of both parties -- it's their profound disinterest in understanding or even experiencing other countries and cultures.

Next page: Palin applied for her first passport less than a year ago