I thought Sarah Palin came off very sympathetically on Oprah — as the mother struggling to balance the challenges of work and family, used to following the beat of her own drummer, and then suddenly swept up into a heated presidential campaign, with all of the scrutiny and choreography that goes along with it. Everybody who watches the interview will probably come away with the same opinions they’ve always had about Palin. To Palin hater Andrew Sullivan, “She really does see politics as an extension of being a Beauty Queen, subject to nice p.r. events, interviews that are restricted to the ‘light-hearted, working mother’ puffery that Oprah is enabling, and cover images on magazines.”

For me, Palin remains somebody who is personally likable but better off remaining out of elective office. She seems a lot more comfortable when she’s free to say and do what she wants, but running for (or holding) office means constant scruitiny, giving up a lot of freedom and independence and having to delve into policy questions in more detail than she’s ever shown interest in.