The Marketing of Sarah Palin

R.J. Matson


Thank you thank you and well said Sarah Wildman (Guardian);

"In the hours since Thursday's vice-presidential debate, the punditry class has filled the airwaves and web, parsing Sarah Palin's failure to fail. But what is perhaps most striking is what Palin failed to actually say. Amid all the "doggone"s and "there ya go"s and "Oh, yeah, it's so obvious I'm a Washington outsider"s, Palin neglected to articulate any difference between the McCain-Palin ticket and the current team in the White house.

Joe Biden, even if restrained at the outset, made a strong, forceful case for how the Obama-Biden ticket would be different - far better than Barack Obama himself did in his first debate against McCain. Palin, on the other hand, had all the spontaneity of a grown-up version of Small Wonder, that 1980s robot girl from Saturday night television. In the end, Biden looked like a president. And while both candidates (rightly, I think) shied away from answering the macabre "in the event of the death of your running mate" question, only Biden looked like he would actually be able to assume the job of president in such an awful scenario.

Part of the problem is that Palin isn't being marketed as, nor is she expected to be, a politician. That's all well and good for PTA president, or mayor, or maybe even governor in a state without a huge number of people. But when we're talking about the highest executive office, there need to be a few criteria in place beyond relateability." (emph and underlining added by yours truly)

More in; Will the Real Sarah Palin please stand up?


Walt Handelsman