Sarah Palin might not have been on the stage at last night’s Tea Party Debate*, but she was, however, on the minds of many tweeters. That’s the impression I got from reading my time line, anyway. So… where was she?
We always tease our current president for leading from behind, but if that’s the case, then what is Sarah doing? Leading from an underground bunker? Because that’s what I see… She’s like the sitcom neighbor standing outside of somebody’s house, looking in the kitchen window and watching the person inside doing all the work. Right now, she’s having it both ways. She gets to stick her head in the kitchen and give her two cents about what to cook, but she doesn’t have to sweat like the rest of the people.
At this rate, Tim Pawlenty has put in more work than she has, and he quit the race weeks ago. She shows up at the same events that actual candidates are at, she speaks on the same issues (from friendly bunkers like Hannity’s show), but she never has to take the fire that “real” candidates do. I don’t see her trading jabs with Mitt Romney or Rick Perry. I don’t see her standing under the hot lights being asked questions by Brian Williams. If she wants to be the president, then where is she? To continue the kitchen metaphor, it’s almost as if she’s going to come in with a store bought side dish after everyone else has cooked up most of the Christmas dinner.
Now, I didn’t say I don’t like Sarah Palin, because I do. But if she really is going to run for the presidency of the greatest nation on earth, I’d like to see a little more work out of her. I’d like to see her engage a news outlet that doesn’t rhyme with “clocks snooze”, for starters. I’d also like to see her show up for some of these debates and not just come in after the “weak” candidates have been picked off. And I definitely want to see her make a case for herself to the near majority of Americans that don’t like her. As things stand, her support is narrow, but deep. She needs to broaden it up, and if she wants to sit in the Oval Office, she should have started doing that over a year ago.
I think Sarah Palin can be qualified to be president, but I don’t think that she’s taken the steps that are necessary to get her to the White House. Here’s probably my biggest pet peeve… She had almost three years to work on an image make over, and she pretty much squandered them. She made sure to please her base, AKA the people who will buy her books, but she never tried to undo the (unfair) demonization she suffered back in 2008.
Here’s what she’s done… Imagine there’s a fire in your back yard. But the truth is, you don’t care for your back yard anyway. You don’t really go there. So you let it burn down and then never try to rehab it at all. You just work on your front yard. But even then, you don’t keep up the whole thing. You just focus on some bushes that you really love. Then one day, you realize that you might want to sell the property. But even then, you’re not sure. You advertise on television that you might be selling it, but you never put it up for sale. Well, for whatever reason, there’s a deadline to sell it, so you put in on the market in hopes of making a good sale. The problem is, you never really prepared the property, and while prospective buyers see potential in it, they’re not sure that they’re sold.
And there you have it. Sarah has pruned the hell out her Tea Party bushes, but the rest of the yard has been somewhat neglected. And if she plans to sell the joint, she’s going to need to make some corrections pretty soon.
I like Sarah Palin, I really do. I’ve wanted her to vindicate herself in the eyes of Americans since day one. She has been demonized and persecuted unfairly. She’s been picked over with a finer comb than most candidates who are actually running. And through it all, I’ve always wanted her to make the media look like fools for the abuse they’ve shown her. I’ve wanted Katie Couric to have to drink a two liter of Diet Pepsi to wash down the crow that Sarah would feed her. But it hasn’t happened. Over two years later, we still have a woman who hides in her bunker. She only goes on Fox News, and she mainly stays on the programs that let her talk without being challenged. I’m sorry, but our president needs to be tougher than that. Rick Perry might have a lot of explaining to do about Gardasil, but at least he stands under the hot lights and does it.
I’ll say it one last time… I like Sarah Palin, but as things stand, she hasn’t given me much of reason to respect her as a potential candidate for the highest office in this land. I want her to step her game up, but even then, that would require she takes the field.
*Note: “Last night’s debate” is a reference to the CNN Tea Party Debate that was held Monday September 12, 2011.
I could not agree more with that second to last paragraph. I WANT Palin to trounce the MSM, to smack those people down, but she just refuses to engage them. It makes her look weak, not strong, especially to the undecided.
Palin has name recognition already. Why would anyone in their right mind want to declare early who has name recognition. Look what happened to Hillary Clinton. She declared early in Feb 2007, did everything according to the book, and yet got soundly defeated by Obama despite having a large lead early on. Ronald Reagan (who had name recognition like Palin) didn’t declare until November 13, 1979 and yet was able to soundly defeat Carter. There is a good reason for waiting as a celebrity. It allows the unknown GOP scrubs to beat up on each other and then see who is left standing. Sarah Palin has already paid her dues and has endured her share of media scrutiny. Sarah Palin was one of the few leaders who pounded the pavement from coast to coast from 2009 until the 2010 elections to help the GOP take back the house. In addition, for the past 3 years she has taken non-stop character assassination from the press and has “taken the fire” from people in her own party who desperately want to see her die politically. You simply can’t compare Palin (the Celebrity Star of the GOP) to the rest of the candidates in terms of how or when to declare. If you look at the polls, her numbers have risen as a result, her brilliant strategy is working. There is no reason for her to get bloodied up with the scrubs until it is the right time for her to make the announcement. I think you are dead wrong to compare Pawlenty’s “apples” with Palin’s “oranges.” It is a faulty analysis. Also, until the other candidates have had 24,000 of their emails examined, their private lives turned upside down, their every move in their private lives examined for the past 3 years, then that perhaps might be a start. Until then, Palin is in a league of her own.
Also one more thing, with regards to Palin only talking to Fox News, that is factually incorrect. All throughout the summer during her bus tour on the east coast, and then to the Iowa State Fair, Palin has talked to the press, and in fact CNN made the comment that Sarah Palin spent more time than the other candidates did answering their questions. The thing the Palin is avoiding are those silly EDITED sit down interviews where the interview is chopped up to make the person look bad. That is exactly what Couric and Gibson did. If you take the time to piece together the edited transcripts with what was actually broadcast, you will find a completely different interview. I think Palin will do interviews with CNN, ABC in the future, but it will be on HER TERMS. I reject your assertion however that she has been avoiding the press and only speaking on Fox News. That simply isn’t true.
Hello,
I found this posting from your link via twitter while hovering the back & forth you had w/another twitter-er. So I decided to drop by to weigh in on this. I agree w/everything you’ve written on this.
But my problem w/Palin is that I feel she is teasing her supporters & that she never had any intention of running for president. In that case I felt used. And I do not being jerked around by anybody. Like my granny used to tell us: “sh*t or get off the pot”. Yes, I was a Palin supporter. In some ways I see her similar to Obama, meaning that she dithers. I got tired of waiting on her so I dumped her for someone who ACTUALLY got into the race. But when I expressed those things, I got jumped & mauled by her rabid followers as if I had just raped the pope. Fought back as best I could.
Another problem is that Palin aside from being a quitter is that she is the ultimate rogue. And such a trait is unsuitable for a leader, let alone as a president. Besides, we already got a rogue in the WH that we are trying to get rid of; & I dont want to repeat the mistake by putting a known self-professed rogue in office.
btw, this is a find blog & your analysis is spot on. Thank U for your time in letting me post my comment.
“But my problem w/Palin is that I feel she is teasing her supporters & that she never had any intention of running for president. In that case I felt used.”
You feel used? How about just dumb? I mean seriously, anyone who follows a political media figure “hoping” they will run for president, then feels used when it doesn’t materialize, has only “used” themselves.
Palin is a a very good smoke screen for the candidates that are running. Now get behind a candidate who has tossed their ring into the hat.
And that’s EXACTLY what I did. I got behind a candidate whose REALLY running. As fast as I could, I jumped off Palin’s non-sailing ship the instant Bachmann got into the race.
My saying “being used” is also my way of saying “being played”. A dummie would be someone who fails to realize when they are OBVIOUSLY being “used” and does nothing about it. Then they graduate to being a fool. If I had hung around Palin at this late date, or even after Perry got into the race, then yes, that would be dumb and foolish.
I’m not here on this blog to denigrate any person. Having said that – there are people who got so much emotional interest invested in Palin, that they don’t know how to walk away & save face w/themselves. But I thought people would had learned this already w/the Obama-mania. Unfortunately, these things do happen in life.
This analogy has a serious flaw…
“Here’s what she’s done… Imagine there’s a fire in your back yard. But the truth is, you don’t care for your back yard anyway. You don’t really go there. So you let it burn down and then never try to rehab it at all. You just work on your front yard. But even then, you don’t keep up the whole thing. You just focus on some bushes that you really love. Then one day, you realize that you might want to sell the property. But even then, you’re not sure. You advertise on television that you might be selling it, but you never put it up for sale. Well, for whatever reason, there’s a deadline to sell it, so you put in on the market in hopes of making a good sale. The problem is, you never really prepared the property, and while prospective buyers see potential in it, they’re not sure that they’re sold.”
Palin hasn’t put anything on the market. Her house is not for sale, regardless of how badly others want her to sell it. And while you might think her landscaping sucks, it could very well be a strategy ploy to see where the country is aligning themselves at this very early stage leading up to the 2012 election. And another thing, I wouldn’t be so concerned with her backyard topsoil. It’s what buried underneath or whats hidden in the closets of all candidates who are running.