Back in April I wrote that I wished Sarah Palin would go away. I’ve waited a week to collect my thoughts on her odd decision to step down as governor of Alaska. Who knows what her future plans hold, but she wasn’t going to be a viable choice for president in 2012 even if she remained as governor. Club Soda is going to write more about the press’ unfair coverage of Palin, but she’s been a lightning rod ever since she stepped on the stage during last year’s election.
Today, Peggy Noonan of the Wall Street Journal has a blistering editorial about Palin that reinforces every stereotype that exists about the governor; it doesn’t seem to matter whether or not the assertion is fair. Palin has never said anything controversial. Most of the press around her has been about her family. It seems to many on the left that Palin’s family is a much larger issue for an aspiring politician than President Clinton’s insatiable thirst “for strange.”
If I didn’t know better I would have to think that Palin is one of the most hated people in politics; however, that’s just not the case.
A Pew poll last month found that Americans’ opinions of Mrs Palin were evenly balanced. A hefty 44% took a dim view of her, while 45% took a rosy one. Among Republicans, she scored a whopping 73% approval rating, far outpacing any other plausible contender for the party’s presidential nomination in 2012.
The Economist article beats up on Palin but are her poll numbers really indicative of a troubled politician? Keep in mind the current president has received two years of rosy press coverage and can only manage an approval rating of 51%. Palin shouldn’t be concerned that only 45% of Americans like her.
In the end Palin was defined by her relative inexperience, which is odd because historically that hasn’t been an issue for vice-presidential candidates. For example, Richard Nixon was 39 when he became vice-president under Eisenhower. Lest we forget, President Obama was given the ultimate free pass for his inexperience and he ran for president. When Obama gave an illogical and ignorant answer to a question about the capital gains tax posed by Charlie Gibson during a Democrat primary debate, it surely wasn’t national news. However, when Palin struggled with questions from the same Charlie Gibson she was labeled a moron and a shallow thinker. But at least Obama can pretentiously pronounce Pakistan Pockeestahn!
Politics, much like life isn’t fair and is unpredictable; no one knows what will happen in the future. In 2002, who could have predicted that a member of the Illinois Senate would be the next president? Palin is still very young and has a promising future as a political personality.
Come on! Do you really not understand why the media attacked Palin’s intelligence so viciously? Just look at the situation from a logical perspective. One person has a law degree from Harvard and was a law professor for 12 years at UIC (another top school). The other has a communications degree from University of Idaho, while her major accomplishments before politics was placing in beauty pageants and working as a sports reporter. Palin had to prove she had the intellectual capacity to be 2nd in line. Why you think Palin got the short end of the stick is beyond me.
The only applicable experience Palin has is being governor for 2 years (I don’t count being mayor of a town with 6,100 residents applicable experience). What’s left is a person with an average education, limited experience dealing with diverse people, never having left the country (until being nominated), placed 3rd in Miss Alaska, and pursued a career as a sports reporter. Why people thought two years experience and a background like hers was enough to put her 2nd in line for presidency is beyond me.
Interesting take I must say… I’ll have to talk to my cousins who both graduated from the University of Idaho and let them know they went to a school that’s not prestigious enough to run for president.
Do you realize you’re arguing that it’s okay to have no experience as an executive if you’re a lawyer and you’ve traveled abroad?
Or do you have to be lawyer who graduated from an Ivy League school? What do you think about Eureka College?
To try to argue that Palin is too inexperience and Obama is not is just intellectually dishonest. They both had no business being involved last year. Why people thought three years experience and a background like his was enough to make him president is beyond me.
Do you realize Dan Quayle had more experience when he was picked at VP than Obama? Dan Quayle! Is this sinking in yet? Dan Quayle, no really! Go look it up.
Ha! I like the Quayle fact!
Easy there killer. You seem to have misunderstood me. I was simply providing a logical explanation of why the media attacked the intellectual capacity of Palin and not Obama. It wasn’t a media conspiriacy. She was just an easy target given her life before politics.
I never suggested that “Palin is too inexperience and Obama is not”. How you got there is beyond me. I was simply pointing out the potential reasons why someone may question Palin’s legitimacy as a political figure.