Sarah Palin on foreign policy: Obama wears “mom jeans” while Putin “wrestles bears”

The former half-term governor of Alaska displays her renowned expertise on international relations

Published March 4, 2014 3:10PM (EST)

Sarah Palin                                        (AP/Carolyn Kaster)
Sarah Palin (AP/Carolyn Kaster)

With much of the political world still fixated on Ukraine and the ongoing crisis in Crimea, it was only a matter of time before one of the sharpest foreign policy minds of our time weighed in with her signature mix of empiricism and insight. That's right, the wait is over — Sarah Palin has finally shared her thoughts on the goings on in Ukraine.

Appearing on the extremely friendly platform of Sean Hannity's Fox News show on Monday night, Palin led off by taking credit for "predicting" Putin's move way back in 2008, a dubious assertion that's quickly becoming objective truth among the right. Asked by Hannity to explain what President Obama "refused" to see, Palin asserted that "anyone who carries the common sense gene would know that Putin doesn't change his stripes."

"He harkens back to the era of the czars and he wants that Russian empire to grow again," she continued. "He wants to exert huge power and dominance so he has to get to those border areas and he has to capture them."

After a lengthy and somewhat incoherent digression, seemingly intended to convince Fox's audience that approval of the Keystone XL pipeline is an issue of national security because Russia has a lot of energy resources (or something), Hannity steered the conversation back to his and Palin's comfort zone — blaming Obama for Putin's actions.

"Are you concerned that this goes further, that [Putin's] ambitions are much bigger than even the Crimean area?" Hannity asked.

"Well, yes, especially under the Commander-in-Chief we have today," Palin responded, "because Obama's — the perception of him and his potency across the world is one of such weakness."

"Lookit, people are looking at Putin as one who wrestles bears and drills for oil," Palin explained. "They look at our president as one who wears mom jeans and equivocates and bloviates. We are not exercising that peace through strength that only can be brought to you courtesy of the red, white and blue, that only a strengthened United States military can do."

You can watch the Fox News segment below, via RightSightings:


By Elias Isquith

Elias Isquith is a former Salon staff writer.

MORE FROM Elias Isquith


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Barack Obama Bears Fox News Keystone Xl Pipeline Mom Jeans Sarah Palin Sean Hannity Video Vladimir Putin