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Opinions/Editorials Title: Wally Hickel and Sarah Palin's Betrayal Wally Hickel and Sarah Palin's Betrayal The death of Walter J. "Wally" Hickel (1919-2010) in Anchorage this past Friday marks the end of a remarkable era, not only in Alaska, but throughout the entire United States. The two-time Governor of the Last Frontier (elected once as a Republican in the 1960s, the second time as an Independent in 1990) and former U.S. Secretary of the Interior under Richard Nixon was a larger than life figure, a legend in his own time, whose driving ambitions and relentless personal energy helped to both shape and define Alaska's 50 years of statehood. He had arrived in Anchorage in 1940 with 37 cents in his pocket, and it proved to be all the stake he would ever need. His robust spirit and seemingly boundless energy assured his success, not only in Alaska's bare-knuckle politics, but in the arenas of business and public policy as well. Born in Kansas in 1919, Hickel was raised in an era when a handshake secured a deal and a commitment still meant something. He was a casual friend of my great uncle, an Italian fish vendor from California of the same generation, and they lived their lives under a code of conduct defined by integrity and an unyielding loyalty to friends and allies. Hickel was forced out of the Nixon White House after criticizing Nixon's handling of student protests during the Vietnam War. "Regardless of how I, or any American, might feel individually, we have an obligation as leaders to communicate with our youth and listen to their ideas and problems," he wrote. He refused to compromise his personal ethics. I spent a fascinating morning with Hickel this past summer, in the office of his downtown Anchorage landmark, the Captain Cook Hotel, and he was every bit as dignified and gracious as he was when I first encountered him 35 years earlier in Anchorage, then a raw and wild oil town. As he approached his 90th birthday, his grip was still strong and his "boomer" vision of Alaska remained his passion. A former boxer, he looked like he could still go a few rounds and I wouldn't want to cross him. He may have lost some of his intellectual edge after nine decades, but his spirit remained undaunted, his eyes bright, particularly when his bride of 67 years, Ermalee, later joined us in the conversation. Hickel was still pushing his vision of an "owner state"--articulated in his book Crisis in the Commons: The Alaska Solution--and he remained upbeat about the possibilities facing Alaska. He was convinced that the "Age of the Artic" was still ahead and he still believed in "big ideas." But when I asked Hickel about then governor Sarah Palin, his disposition turned hard. Hickel had played a major role in her victory as governor in the 2006 election--his stamp of approval went a long way toward getting her elected--and he expected a place at the table with the young governor as she was set to guide Alaska into the New Millenium. In the immediate aftermath of Palin's election, however, Palin cast Hickel aside. As anyone who has ever worked with or for Sarah Palin knows full well, her capacity for deceit and betrayal knows no bounds. She stabbed Hickel in the back. As a result, Hickel viewed Palin with personal disdain, describing her "political opportunism" in the most condemnatory terms possible. He had lost all respect for her. She "used" him like she would use many other patrons as she scratched and lied her way to a strange form of national political celebrity, and Hickel was not afraid to call it like he saw it. He was not bitter--he was a much bigger man than that--but at the same time, he was not afraid to show his disgust. "I don't give a damn about her," he told me. I found his candor refreshing. Not only did he view Palin as a political parvenu, he viewed her as a puppet. "She's not her own woman," he said to me several times. He was strongly opposed to her plans for a TransCanada pipeline--he did not believe it would ever be built--and he championed instead an All Alaska gas-line project from Prudhoe Bay to Valdez. In a stinging opinion piece he wrote a year ago this week, he declared, "If I were governor, we would start building the All-Alaska gas line tomorrow. All it takes is some guts and a decision." It didn't take much to read between those lines. When I asked him for a formal, on-the-record response to Palin's stunted career as governor, he took a deep pause. "She fell in love with the national spotlight and lost her ethical compass," he said thoughtfully. "That was a sad day for Alaska and America." In the aftermath of Palin's resignation, Hickel wrote a prescient opinion piece for the Anchorage Daily News (where he was a regular contributor until just last month), in which he expressed his criticism of Palin for being a polarizing figure along both class and racial lines during the national campaign. He urged her "to rise above the worn-out, negative tactics of presidential politics and assume the role of stateswoman." While acknowledging his initial support for Palin's nomination, he expressed his horror at the divisive nature of her political rhetoric: Palin became the spokesperson for the divisive voices in American politics. She dismissed the greatness of our immigrant heritage, indeed of today's Alaska, where in Anchorage alone nearly 100 languages are spoken in the homes of the children in our public schools. Not surprisingly, Palin did not dignify Hickel's passing with a formal acknowledgment on her Facebook page, but instead issued a shameful and shallow "reflection" on Twitter in her distinctive Palinese: Upon his passing,we honor Gov Walter Hickel's life,he made real difference in the world.Unsurpassed impacts on Alaska,the Arctic&her people[sic] That was it. Palin was well aware of Hickel's disdain, and she could not rise above her pettiness to issue the formal acknowledgment that his life and career warranted. Indeed, these two figures represent the anithesis of Arctic politics. Whereas Hickel was a man whose destiny was always greater that his own, Palin's has always been wrapped up in her own self-interest. Whereas Palin is all about style, Hickel was a man of substance. In the end, the shadow of his political legacy in the Last Frontier will forever loom long beyond that of Sarah Palin's. His was real and transcendent--while hers is small and remains nothing but a fantasy.
Post Comment Private Reply Ignore Thread Top • Page Up • Full Thread • Page Down • Bottom/Latest Begin Trace Mode for Comment # 32.
#1. To: Skip Intro (#0)
I haven't the patience to read this boring crap, but can we agree Palin is an oaf with tits?
I assume you aren't the psycho cop Tull who controls christine at 4um.
I control myself (to the best of my ability) and have zero desire to control anyone else. I believe in freedom, in person and state.
You are some piece of work.... "Stone, I know u can't answer me now, but I DID remove your tag, and I also booted your Christian ass off this forum." ~ Jethro Tull
Stoner got the boot from 4um?
Either that or Tull once again validated that he's a cunt.
I guess he has moderator status over there. I thought he pulled strings but didn't realize he had keyboard power. Typical cop. Give him a uniform and some power and then watch out!
Watch it! He wears his feelings on his sleeves. And he's been hiding behind skirts for so long he probably doesn't realize he is actually on his own over here.
I doubt he'll play over here very long. No one will kiss his butt, quite the contrary. He needs his nice, warm echo chamber at 4um. I guess he probably banned me too from there now that I see he's been given mod powers.
Hey Fredo, you quit after people got tired of BS's leftist posting and he got the boot. Now get you head out of your horses ass and try to cobble together a rational thought.
I challenged Brian S's banning when I learned of it. I got banned. I didn't quit. I'd do the same for any reasonable poster I'd seen for over many years online, including Badeye...even if I disagree with him most the time.
BS isn't a "reasonable poster" he's a leftist d'bag. And that's what makes you Fredo, Fredo.
#33. To: Tull (#32)
That makes you a closed minded twit.
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