Que Sarah, Sarah

There has been sickeningly cloying reportage about the Sarah Palin and Asif Ali Zardari meeting. Even serious commentators are making an issue of it, quite forgetting that their own PM Yusuf Reza Gilani did a boob press on one of their leaders.

So what did Zardari do and why is he getting so much mileage? He called her gorgeous and added, “Now I know why the whole of America is crazy about you.”

Someone should ensure that this fellow gets lockjaw. Because this was a diplomatic boo-boo. He cannot speak for the whole of America, that too so close to the elections when anything can happen.

The unfortunate thing about Sarah is that she has a glamorous background. Ignore her politics for the moment, politics that stink, there is far too much sexist bias against her, and not unusually from feminists themselves.

Ms. Palin did not need a makeover, she came made-over. What about the rest who get all dolled up for the elections? What about the several changes in hairstyle and clothes that Hillary Clinton went through?

Did not Madeleine Albright once say that there was nothing that makeup could not fix?

What about German Chancellor Angela Merkel revealing that deep and dangerous cleavage?

Why must the political arena be left out from the way consent is manufactured and complete societies become guinea pigs?

In this Zardari-Palin cootchie-coo, what has been conveniently not highlighted is Information Minister Sherry Rehman’s words, “And how does one keep looking that good when one is that busy?”

How many people ask Obama how he can manage to be so fit? Did politicians talk about Bill Clinton’s always-fresh charm?

Not to be left behind, we had one report saying that “Palin left Manmohan Singh speechless, blushing”.

Nothing in the story reveals that.

Why would there be unease? What is going on? When we are not behaving like slaves of some woman from Alaska who may have qualities other than her looks, we are being patronising.

Look at this rubbish:

K P Nayar, the Chief Diplomatic Editor of the Telegraph, who is based in Washington D C for more than two decades, said: "It is in our own interest, it is Important to cultivate her, this is the time to cultivate her because until last year, she didn't have a passport. Last year, was the first time she acquired the passport. Yesterday, for the first time, she met the head of a government or the head of a state. So, she would be grateful that Prime Minister Manmohan Singh gave her some advice, treated her with respect, because the rest of the United States, and much of the world, is treating her with contempt -- that she is the greenhorn, the kind of person who should be a heartbeat away from the US presidency. We should cultivate people who matter in the US politics. We should not make a value judgment."

So we must respect people only if they have a passport? Sure, she had not met any head of state or government earlier, but what is this about Singh giving her advice and treating her with respect? Mr. Nayar, even after over 2 decades, you sound like a greenhorn yourself. What did you imagine – that the Indian PM would show contempt towards her? Again, such blanket pronouncements about how the world is treating her. It would be better if we looked inside our own house and see the contempt people show towards Sonia Gandhi.

Has Zardari shown contempt? No, he was being himself. A complete fruitcake. So was Sherry Rehman who, incidentally, belongs to the same league as Sarah.

End note

When an official aide to Zardari requested the two leaders to keep shaking hands for the benefit of the cameras, he told Palin, “If he is insisting, I might hug”.

Aw, the fellow thinks he is being a charmer. Yasser Arafat went ahead and embraced Indira Gandhi several years ago and no aide insisted.