Consider if you will what I
wrote last November after the reviews came in for Sarah
Palin’s Alaska:
Let them sneer at reality television and social networking
to their heart’s content. The fact of the matter is these things
mean a great deal to people. Whether we like it or not, who
wins Dancing with the Stars
means more to people than our monetary policy. Whether we
like it or not, people define themselves by their Facebook status.
All Palin has done is to tap into this new reality. She is merely
using the social networking medium the way Ronald Reagan used
television when he hosted General Electric
Theater. While Palin espouses traditional
values she is not taking a traditional path to the presidency. The
question is whether she can carve out her own path to electoral
success.
Assuming Palin decides to take a run at the White House,
she will undoubtedly do so with the knowledge that she will
encounter enormous barriers along that path led by a liberal media
(with a little help from some condescending conservatives)
determined to keep President Obama in office. In fact, she should
expect them to be a thousand times more arduous and vicious than
those she faced in 2008. The difference now is that no one will
stop her from clearing the brush. With her pioneering spirit, this
time she gets to do things her way.
Well, now consider what Chris Cillizza and Aaron Blake of
the Washington Post have to say about Sarah
Palin’s impromptu bus tour which commenced over the Memorial Day
weekend. They
write, “What’s clear from her bus tour, though, is
that if Palin runs for president, she’ll do it one and one way
only: hers.” And why shouldn’t she? Would we expect Mitt Romney,
Tim Pawlenty and Ron Paul to do it any other way? This is her name
and her tour on her terms. In the spirit of Frank Sinatra (and
for that matter Nina Simone), she
is going to sing “My Way” her way.
Come to think of it, Palin’s bus tour evokes another
Sinatra song. When you consider the behavior of the liberal media
in covering her latest journey, Palin is not only resolute in
conducting it her way but in doing so demonstrates that
she has them on a string. How many private citizens are capable of
getting a hundred reporters to
follow their every move on a moment’s notice? Justin Elliott of
Salon
complains, “What would in a just world prompt a round of
self-reflection by the national press corps will instead continue
indefinitely until Palin gets bored.” Alright, but who exactly is
stopping the media from covering Sarah Palin? It’s not like there
aren’t other things happening in the world. After all, Congress is
debating whether to increase the debt ceiling, Egypt’s new
regime is as cruel as the
one that preceded it and, of course, Lady Gaga’s new album has just
gone
platinum.
But the liberal media has a vested interest in covering
Palin. They passionately supported President Obama’s election in
2008 and will vigorously support his re-election bid next year
despite their disappointments (i.e. not closing Gitmo, increasing
troop presence in Afghanistan and compromising with Republicans on
tax cuts). If Obama is to be portrayed as hero and champion for the
downtrodden, then by necessity there must be a villain who is to be
portrayed as a lightning rod of discontent. For the liberal media,
Palin is their straw man to be feared, loathed and ridiculed. She
is simultaneously viewed as a symbol of a value system that
threatens their cherished beliefs while at the same time is viewed
as someone not intelligent enough to be in the same room with
President Obama whether or not she seeks his office. Even if she
doesn’t challenge Obama there will be plenty of Palin to kick
around. But therein lay the contradiction. If Palin is someone who
isn’t worthy of serious attention then why go to all the trouble of
turning her into public enemy number one?
Three and a half years after becoming a national public
figure, the liberal media still haven’t learned how to treat Sarah
Palin as a rational human being with a different set of values from
their own. For three and a half years, Palin has been the target of
their slings and arrows. Over time, Palin has been better able
shield herself and to choose her battles more carefully. During the
course of these battles, Palin has learned how and when to pull
their strings. If Palin can pull the liberal media’s strings, then
imagine what she could do with President Obama’s thin
lines?
