Amused Cynic

Dr. Melissa Clouthier has a terrific piece today. I’ve only heard snippets of the Oprah thing, because I just didn’t want to watch Oprah any more than I want to watch Katie Couric. I did catch the Rush interview though, and Dr. MC nails it.

Sarah Palin, by nature of being conservative, chooses the more difficult road. It’s just the way it is. She needs to own it. She needs to march down the road with cheerful grace. These self-important press and establishment types cannot handle good humor. They have no sense of humor about themselves. A well-placed gentle jibe will do more than 100 well-circumscribed answers and cluck-clucking back-tracking. The circumlocution is Obama’s forté. Sarah Palin needs to own everything, be direct and have a ball.

I so totally agree. This is exactly why they can’t deal with her. It’s a good way to live.

[...]Anyway, before I get into the details, my overarching impression wasn’t related to Sarah Palin at all, but rather to the state of the press in general. For example, here’s Sarah Palin going into hostile Obama-loving territory on Oprah. She was on edge, and fought defensiveness, much like her interview with Katie Couric. But she did it. Unlike Barack Obama, who has studiously avoided any interview from anyone who isn’t a “friendly”, Palin demonstrates some gumption.[...]So, here’s Sarah Palin going forward into Oprah’s female den of iniquity. Oprah needs Sarah like Sarah needs Oprah. Sarah Palin needs to appeal to a broader slice of the electorate. Oprah needs ratings. It’s mutually beneficial and one of the bile-inducing decisions politicians make. Oprah doesn’t ask Sarah Palin substantive questions. Oprah asks Oprah questions–about Levi coming to Thanksgiving, about her marriage, etc. Rush Limbaugh called the questions “soap opera stuff”, but that’s Oprah’s audience. Palin did relatively well.
[...]
Rush’s interview, in contrast, made Sarah Palin sound like a wise elder statesman. He didn’t throw softballs. To the contrary, he asked her substantive policy questions. Guess what? She didn’t stumble. She flowed. It was great to listen to, really, and heartening. Rush asked her questions on everything from national security, foreign policy, oil exploration, health care and illegal immigration. Not one stutter. Not one hiccup. She was flawless.

It wasn’t just her form. Her substance was pure, unapologetic small-government conservative. It was like taking a breath of fresh political air, if such a thing exists. D.C. smells gives off the fetid fumes of months dead fish in the still undrained swamp. Sarah Palin is not D.C. She brings the brisk, clean Alaskan air and sends a chill down the spines of Democrats and Republican establishment types. They are right to fear her. She is formidable.

I want Sarah Palin to succeed.

Sarah Palin must though, find a way to be at ease answering any question that the superficial, bigoted, condescending North Eastern blue bloods throw at her. Underneath, these people are insecure. It rattles them to their bones that a state college educated, wife, mother, politician and governor could best them. Their insecurity will get more piqued as President Obama continues to waffle, avoid and hide–from unfriendly press, from dictators, from tough decisions, from failure.

Sarah Palin will have to get used to wearing the mantle of leader. That means that she’ll have to own the fact that she’s so formidable that Barack Obama has finally, at long last, decided to man up and face Fox. (It won’t be much of a feat. Geeze, O’Reilly already loves him and the rest of the cast like him, too. It’s only the talking heads like Beck and Hannity that dislike the guy. What a weenie Obama has been avoiding Fox. So typical, though.)

Obama illustrates the point though. He’s weak. He will only take the easy road. Sarah Palin, by nature of being conservative, chooses the more difficult road. It’s just the way it is. She needs to own it. She needs to march down the road with cheerful grace. These self-important press and establishment types cannot handle good humor. They have no sense of humor about themselves. A well-placed gentle jibe will do more than 100 well-circumscribed answers and cluck-clucking back-tracking. The circumlocution is Obama’s forté. Sarah Palin needs to own everything, be direct and have a ball.

Really, what does Sarah Palin have to lose? What more can they say? The left has shot its load, not they won’t try to reload and make more bullcrap out of whole cloth. Let them. Really. Now is not the time to be defensive or afraid.

As a side note: When Oprah asked her invasive family questions, I noted that Sarah turned and looked at her daughters with love and pain in her eyes. It is disgusting to me that they have to hear the b.s. Some will say, “Well, it’s Sarah’s fault for bringing them.” Really? If Barack and Michelle Obama brought their daughters on Oprah, would she ask them, in front of the girls, about fight rumors and rumors of divorce? Somehow I doubt it.

There is a double standard. It’s despicable. In order to succeed, though, a conservative candidate, man or woman must, as The Anchoress says, transcend it. No doubt, Sarah Palin will have plenty of opportunity to do just that as she faces more hostile interviews.

Just terrific.