Sarah Palin in Demand
Sarah Palin is a big star now.
In this Nov. 4, 2008 file photo, Gov. Sarah Palin, R-Alaska, acknowledges the crowd during an election night rally in Phoenix. Oprah wants her, and so do Letterman and Leno. Fresh from her political defeat, Sarah Palin is juggling offers to write books, appear in films and sit on dozens of interview couches at a rate astonishing for any first-term governor, let alone a Hollywood star. (AP Photo/Elise Amendola, File)
Oprah wants her, and so do Letterman and Leno. Fresh from her political defeat, Sarah Palin is juggling offers to write books, appear in films and sit on dozens of interview couches at a rate that would be astonishing for most Hollywood stars, let alone a first-term governor.
The failed Republican vice presidential candidate crunched state budget numbers this week in her 17th-floor office as tumbling oil prices hit Alaska’s revenues. Meanwhile, her staff fielded television requests seeking the 44-year-old Palin for late-night banter and Sunday morning Washington policy. Agents, including those from the William Morris Agency, have come knocking. There’s even been an offer to host a TV show.
“Tomorrow, Governor Palin could do an interview with any news media on the planet,” said her spokesman, Bill McAllister. “Tomorrow, she could probably sign any one of a dozen book deals. She could start talking to people about a documentary or a movie on her life. That’s the level we are at here.” “Barbara Walters called me. George Stephanopoulos called me,” McAllister said. “I’ve had multiple conversations with producers for Oprah, Letterman, Leno and ‘The Daily Show.'”
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Palin has sent unmistakable signals she is open to running for president in 2012, but to advance her political ambitions she must stay in the public eye in the lower 48 states. As with any celebrity, there is the risk of overexposure. At the same time, she’ll be under pressure to attend to governing her home state, which is thousands of miles from the rest of the nation.
“She has to deal with the perception that she bobbled her debut,” said Claremont McKenna College political scientist John Pitney. “She needs to stay home for a while. If she wants a future in national politics, her No. 1 job is doing a good job as governor.”
I’m inclined to agree. She’s already got name recognition in spades; the problem is the perception that she’s not ready for prime time. Of course, it’s going to be mighty hard to “do a good job” at this point, given that the job has become tremendously harder now that oil is back to $50 a barrel.
In general what she needs to do are the smart shows. She should be governor and show up on the Sunday morning talk shows or appear on some of the cable news opinion/commentary shows to do interviews.
I think most people see her as a political light weight, but she does have strong knowledge in certain areas-I suspect she can talk circles around most congress members and several state governors on energy and energy policy given how much of the Alaskan economy involves energy.
But she should probably avoid most of the commedy or lightweight interview shows like Letterman (who I suspect would make crude jokes and be mostly rude anyway). But if she thinks she might want to be in a national office or the white house at some point in the future she needs to do policy oriented interviews and avoid the touchy feely family oriented, personal stuff.
Only short term thinkers are relaxing about oil. Those of us who have keen interest (trucking) know the prices could go up as fast as they did last year. That ruined and nearly ruined at lot of people. I would also argue the steep rise in energy prices was the first domino to fall leading to a cascade of problems including home mortgage failures, the stock market decline, and pretty much all of our economic ills.
Palin is popular with who again? That’s right, Oprah, Leno, the Daily Show. That’s not real politics. If she wants to be a player next cycle she has to learn to raise money, form alliances, and endure the rigors of campaigning on a national level over the long term. I like her positions (insert sophomoric joke) but don’t see her as a future leader of the party. There are just too many other well qualified Republicans ready for that job. It takes a different type of person to play the political game.
I for one would really like to see TV personalities playing a smaller role in the next election.
My father taught me “if it was easy, everyone would do it”. And what would the left have to say if she does “do a good job” with only $50 oil? Something tells me that a bunch of intellectual elitists are going to be eating their words in the future.
She should definitely blow off Oprah, Leno, Walters, and the Daily Show. They were and are hostile to her but now are in need of someone to bring back the audience lost by their partisanship. They can’t make fun of their guy, Obama so they want Palin to serve herself up.
No she should do, O’Reilly, Charlie Rose, and an interview with that anchor in Florida who asked Joe Biden hard questions. Just to slap the sore winners. She isn’t Tom Cruise, she doesn’t need Oprah or Leno to keep her from fading away.
She really needs to come out in the Spring as the face for the special needs communities. Non-political exposure while keeping the choice not taken in the news.
I keep hearing this meme, but I don’t recall any particular episodes of insight into energy policy during the campaign. Did I miss something, or is this just a variation of the knowledge via proximity meme?
JKB,
I completely disagree, I think if anything she needs to go on the DailyShow, Stewart is highly partisan, but he will give her a chance to be likable to a young Democratic audience. Palin needs to laugh off 2008, not repeat it.
Funny things about stars: they tend to burn out rather quickly.
Does that include Barry O, in your view?
(Snicker)
I’ve been having this same thought for months now. I would love for someone to post a clip where Palin sounds like some authority on the issue, but other than a few rambling statements I haven’t seen any evidence that she knows anymore than any of the other candidates in this election cycle on energy. At this point this meme seems to be a pretty empty judgment based upon her proximity to oil fields (Russia anyone?).
And Bithead, you should stop taking comedic lessons from 12 year old’s. ZOMG!!!
I keep hearing this meme, but I don’t recall any particular episodes of insight into energy policy during the campaign. Did I miss something, or is this just a variation of the knowledge via proximity meme?
Funny thing is I never really heard anyone ask her about it either. Kind of hard to provide answers, when all the interviewers want to know what magazines you read and whether or not your baby is really your daughters.
Michael,
I was thinking about it from the point of view of giving them a ratings bump but I can see your point.
However, that shouldn’t happen till the middle or late 2009 after the young democrats are well disillusioned with their messiah.
It’s not just that she failed to say smart things about energy. It’s that she said multiple dumb things about energy.
There was an interviewer who asked her that latter question? Really? Tell us about it.
There is no question that Palin is one of the country’s biggest celebrities, if not the biggest…
Wasn’t Sarah Palin in demand a month ago? The only thing that seems to have changed is that now there’s nobody trying to keep here off the air.
You and Bit keep singing that tinny Halleueh Chorus. In the meantime, the rest of us will watch the internal combustion of the late, great Republican Party. John McCain impalined himself and, from the looks of things, the whole GOP may follow suit. Oh, and I’d say she should stay away from turkeys (and not the kind a change in party affiliation would effect).
No.
The first was government involvement…. in energy, (EPA, TRansportation dept, energy dept, NTSB, and so on) and in Fannie and Freddie.
This theory of yours, that government involvement is significantly less during times of prosperity, doesn’t reconcile with reality.
when all the interviewers want to know [is] whether or not your baby is really your daughters
Is anyone else a little tired of commenters who routinely lie like rugs out of contempt for the rest of us?
Or is it just me?
JM: She was never troubled to answer the questions she was asked.
Agreed. She needs to show that she is not afraid of parody.
What she is truly in need of, is showing the ability to govern a state. Ergo, she should do Jon Stewart, and Leno, etc, and get back to the bussiness of running her state. People will see her as a competent conservative (how many of them have we seen of late?) and not a sore loser.
anjin:
Indeed. Which is pretty ironic, given the effort McCain made to ridicule Obama for being a celebrity.
anderson:
I think roughly 52.7% of the voters have expressed how they feel about certain persons and groups “who routinely lie like rugs out of contempt for the rest of us.”