Posted on 11/17/2010 1:08:56 PM PST by 2ndDivisionVet
After the latest round of cheap family drama, how could Sarah Palin possibly position herself to go toe-to-toe with President Obama, as she appears to be gearing up to try to do?
During the 2008 campaign, John McCain rapped Barack Obama as the world's biggest celebrity. And since taking up residence in the White House, Obama has been slammed for going on "The View," "The Daily Show," ESPN, and the list goes on.
Two years from now, this is how the GOP's argument could go (and it's not an argument I subscribe to): Obama's much more flash than focus, more rhetoric than substance. He thought he could translate his charisma and his millions of fawning admirers into solutions to America's biggest problems, domestically and on the global stage. But he fundamentally misunderstood the nation and the world. He failed.
Now imagine the GOP chooses Palin to be its standard bearer in 2012 rather than someone super-serious and sober — an experienced, grounded grownup, like Mitt Romney, Tim Pawlenty, Mitch Daniels or a slew of others.
They will have answered a man who they claim is an in-over-his-head publicity hound with a woman who is far shallower, far less serious and far more obsessed with image-making than governing.
They will have bought into the idea that politics should be a permanent, self-indulgent sideshow.
Because it's now official: The Palins have become the Lohans of politics. And Sarah and Todd Palin are responsible; they have chosen a full-exposure life for their family that makes them more closely resemble the Gosselins or Heenes than the Clintons, the Bushes, the Reagans, the Kennedys or the Obamas.
It's not just Sarah deciding to be a high-paid Fox commentator, treating the business of governing like an NFL coach who sits in the booth for a few years before vying to return to the sidelines.
It's Sarah and the kids starring on a new reality TV show on TLC.
It's Bristol Palin going on "Dancing with the Stars."
It's Willow Palin attacking her mother's critics on Facebook with high-minded verbiage like "you're so gay" and "you're such a faggot."
This is the life the Republican Party's brightest star has lived after losing in 2012:
She didn't take up residence at a think tank and try to learn the ins and outs of the federal budget.
She didn't travel the world to fill her huge gaps in foreign policy knowledge.
She didn't try to run a company or a real non-profit organization.
She didn't even finish out her term as governor.
Rather than addressing her weaknesses in order to prepare for the biggest job in the world, she has made every one of her vulnerabilities worse than it was two years ago. She has chosen to bask in the spotlight of the "lamestream" media she mocks.
All that frivolity might work in Wasilla, but it won't play in Peoria. People in Peoria — like in most of the rest of America — are far more discerning about what they want in a commander-in-chief. They're worried about the nation's problems. Though they may be deeply uneasy with many of Obama's decisions, they are increasingly realizing he at least is a serious man guided by his convictions.
There's a second problem with Palin. Right-wing values voters are often energized when they convince themselves that their candidate is a better person — a better father or mother or husband — than a left-leaning opponent. This is why that stupid poll question about which candidate is more likely to pull over and help you change a flat (the one Al Gore and John Kerry both performed poorly on) apparently has resonance.
Whatever you may think of Obama's policies, he comes across as a decent man. Sasha and Malia Obama are by all accounts grounded, stable children. Though no White House will ever be an ordinary home, the Obama White House seems about as close as you can get.
On cosmetics alone, match that up against the carnival act that the Palin family has increasingly become.
The GOP instantly loses two of its key cultural advantages in one fell swoop. Sarah Palin kills two willow ptarmigans (that's the Alaska state bird) with one stone.
Ptarmigan (AKA Grouse) make fine eating. My son killed one with a sling shot once. If he'd gotten two with one stone, that would have been really impressive.
Joshua, Joshua, Joshua, you are one cunning runt.
A little liberal, small pricked , limp wrist fag boy, and you want to give us your clear headed, objective, forward looking political discourse.
I might be conservative, I might be drunk, I might be old, I might be a whole lot of derogatory things that lefties want to call me... but I ain't stupid. STFU
She would probably make a decent president, because she would have surrounded herself with people who know all the things she doesn’t know. And, if she ends up being the nominee, I will vote for her. But, I am scared to death it would be Christine O’Donnell on a national level. She has a lot of people who are absolutely crazy about her, but not enough to win a general election. I hope the Republicans don’t throw away a clear chance to win the presidency in 2012 on someone who can’t win.
Spam is you and you’re not even using your own words.
JOKE.
It’s also possible she’s playing the role of political offensive linesman... opening up a big hole that the real ball-carrier can sprint through for the easy touchdown.
Go, Sarah!
I agree.
Joshua Greenman is a flaming asshole
No, I'm not kidding, this is Joshua Greenman!
Why would you compare a Governor that was the most popular Governor in America, and that has 18 successful years in politics, and elected office, and that was the GOP’s first female Vice Presidential candidate, with Christine O’Donnell, someone that has never held elective office of any kind? You are being absurd.
GAYDAR alert....
Nope, she hasn’t done a darned thing since she left office. Well, she played a big part in the GOP defeating the Dems in the House, giving them a guillotine-like haircut in the Senate, and shellacking them everywhere else. And she has the Dems, the left in general and the media (to the extent they’re different things) jumping eight-to-the-bar more regularly than Company B. Other than that, not much.
lol, definitely a purple socks in gym class type.
My opinion exactly. I think there is a chance she would make a good president, but her publicity stunts are just not presidential, and too many people consider her to be a joke.
We cannot afford to lose in 2012...it would put the final nail in our coffin. I pray that she will see that others have a better chance of being elected and decide not to run.
What a bunch of cowards. Many can talk the conservative game, but to actually support one lol.
Pathetic.
She may have been very popular as a Governor at one time, but the numbers are very different now. And, her endorsement of Joe Miller in her home state was not even sufficient to stop a write-in candidacy. That is really pretty stunning.
Her 18 years in politics includes years as a very small town mayor, some years as some kind of state commissioner (heck, I’ve done that, and I know it didn’t qualify me to be president), and two years as a governor, from which she resigned.
True, she had more executive experience than Obama, but he comes across as better educated, even if he’s not.
My law partners and I are extremely conservative. We’ve been in the trenches on important conservative issues. We think Palin is a good woman, whose heart is in the right place. But we cringe when we hear Palin talk, and greatly fear that if she is the nominee, the Republican party will have thrown away an incredibly good opportunity to take the White House.
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