Barracuda Strikes Back

Take The Test: In trying to salvage her damaged political image, Sarah Palin has conducted more media interviews since election night than there are caribou in the Alaska National Wildlife preserve. As long as she is on a media blitz, perhaps she should book a week's appearance on TV's "Are You Smarter Than a Fifth Grader?" Only 38% of the voters thought she was. That means the other 62% arrived at the logical conclusion she was unprepared to become vice president of the United States. Before her image reconstruction began, two national interviews her Republican National Committee handlers allowed were disasters. Some gave her the benefit of doubt when she couldn't define the Bush Doctrine, considered a "gotcha" question by ABC's Charlie Gibson. (As columnist Charles Krauthammer pointed out, there are four so-called Bush doctrines). The Katie Courik interviews were more damaging. She couldn't explain what newspapers she read nor could she cite a Supreme Court decision of which she disagreed other than Roe vs. Wade. But, the dagger was a film clip where she inaccurately explained the role of the vice president's job to -- guess who? -- a bunch of fifth graders. She gloated how she looked forward to push the McCain agenda on the floor of the Senate which she would preside over. Oops. She didn't know John Adams, the first vice president, tried and gave it up as a lost cause. Had she tried, she would have been shunned and ignored just as Lyndon Johnson, the most powerful Senate Majority Leader of our era, did serving as Kennedy's vice president. Nor did it help when actress and cloned look-a-like Tina Fey of Saturday Night Live portrayed her by reciting the exact same words Palin pronounced on the campaign trail. Suddenly, voters failed to see Palin as a candidate but Palin as a hillbilly from Wasilla. Finally, in the final days anonymous McCain campaign staffers were quoted in the media saying $150,000 was spent on her and her family's wardrobe from Nieman Marcus and Sacks Fifth Avenue stores. She was called a diva and rogue candidate and someone unwilling to prepare for debates and interviews. After the election, McCain staffers, still anonymous, said she thought Africa was a country. Palin's naivety in national politics is the root cause of her problems. She was dumbfounded by the anonymous sources trashing her. "Who are those guys?" she asked bewilderingly. She counterattacked, saying her anonymous RNC handlers were "jerks" and she wasn't about to "play inside baseball games." All she ever asked for was an occasional Diet Dr. Pepper, she said. In Alaska, there is no unnamed sources in newspaper and television reporting. She found herself flaying at ghosts. Welcome to the real world, Sarah.



Sarah's Gift: While Sarah Palin launches her comeback trail, she will remain the gift that keeps on giving for her critics and late night show comics. But give her some credit. She is tenacious, a quick study, resilient and ambitious. She's not dumb. She's simply intellectually incurious just like the rap on George W. Bush. A good trooper, she did what she was told during the campaign even though the advise was flawed. On the campaign stages, she was the attack dog, comfortable in her role as Sarah Barracuda. She ignited the Republican base and re-energized McCain's campaign even though in this election the base was out to lunch with the electorate. She thinks outside the box as was her desire to speak before McCain prior to his concession speech. "I wanted to brag him up," she said. She wears religion on her sleeve as guidance for a future career in the secular world of politics. “I’m like, ‘O.K., God, if there is an open door for me somewhere’ — this is what I always pray — I’m like, ‘Don’t let me miss the open door,’ ” she told Greta Van Susteren of Fox News. “And if there is an open door in ’12 or four years later, and if it is something that is going to be good for my family, for my state, for my nation, an opportunity for me, then I’ll plow through that door.” Don't underestimate the barracuda. By 2012 or 2016 she will be self-taught and ready for prime time. She already has accomplished two major goals of a presidential candidate. She has the "it" factor meaning she's attractive and pleasing before the cameras. She owns the "Q" factor, meaning universal name recognition. And, for Christ's sake, prove to us you're smarter than a fifth grader.