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February 11, 2010 in Opinion
Palin’s performance sound
The snows that obliterated Washington last week interfered with many scheduled meetings, but they did not prevent the delivery of one important political message: Take Sarah Palin seriously.
Her lengthy Saturday night keynote address to the National Tea Party Convention in Nashville and her debut on the Sunday morning talk show circuit with Fox News’ Chris Wallace showed off a public figure at the top of her game – a politician who knows who she is and how to sell herself.
This was not the first time that Palin has impressed me. I gave her high marks for her vice presidential acceptance speech in St. Paul. But then, and always throughout that campaign, she was laboring to do more than establish her own place. She was selling a ticket headed by John McCain against formidable Democratic opposition and burdened by the legacy of the Bush administration.
Blessed with an enthusiastic audience of conservative activists, Palin used the Tea Party gathering and coverage on the cable networks to display the full repertoire she possesses, touching on national security, economics, fiscal and social policy and every other area where she could draw a contrast with Barack Obama and point up what Republicans see as vulnerabilities in Washington.
Her invocation of “conservative principles and common-sense solutions” was perfectly conventional. What stood out in the eyes of TV-watching pols of both parties was the skill with which she drew a self-portrait that fit not just the wishes of the immediate audience but the mood of a significant slice of the broader electorate.
Freed of the responsibilities she carried as governor of Alaska, devoid of any official title but armed with regular gigs on Fox News Channel and more speaking invitations than she can fulfill, Palin is perhaps the most visible Republican in the land.
More important, she has locked herself firmly in the populist embrace that every skillful outsider candidate from George Wallace to Jimmy Carter to Ronald Reagan to Bill Clinton has utilized when running against “the political establishment.”
It doesn’t always win. There are more John Edwardses and Mike Huckabees than I can count. But it wins more often than you’d guess and for a greater variety of people, especially when things are not going well for the country.
Palin’s final answer to Chris Wallace showed how perfectly she has come to inhabit that part. When he asked her what role she wants to play in the country’s future, she said:
“First and foremost, I want to be a good mom and I want to raise happy, healthy, independent children. And I want them to be good citizens of this great country.
“And then I do want to be a voice for some common-sense solutions. I’m never going to pretend like I know more than the next person. I’m not going to pretend to be an elitist. In fact, I’m going to fight the elitist, because for too often and for too long now, I think the elitists have tried to make people like me and people in the heartland of America feel like we just don’t get it, and big government’s just going to have to take care of us.
“I want to speak up for the American people and say: No, we really do have some good common-sense solutions. I can be a messenger for that. Don’t have to have a title to do it.”
This is a pitch-perfect recital of the populist message that has worked in campaigns past. There are times when the American people are looking for something more: for an Eisenhower, who liberated Europe; an FDR or a Kennedy or a Bush, all unashamed aristocrats; or an Obama, with eloquence and brains.
But in the present mood of the country, Palin is by all odds a threat to the more uptight Republican aspirants like Mitt Romney and Tim Pawlenty – and potentially to Obama as well.
Palin did not wear well in the last campaign, especially in the suburbs where populism has a limited appeal. But when Wallace asked her about resigning the governorship with 17 months left in her term and whether she let her opponents drive her from office, she said, “Hell, no.”
Those who want to stop her will need more ammunition than deriding her habit of writing on her hand. The lady is good.
David Broder is a columnist for the Washington Post. His e-mail address is davidbroder@washpost.com.
Editorial: Workers’ beer routine undermines public trust 
johnclarke on February 11 at 7:38 a.m.
To quote Barney Frank - What planet do you spend the majority of your time? S-R, I once again find myself shocked (not really) that you would print this right wing garbage. Palin represents the worst kind of politician. She is horribly underqualified, a proven quitter and totally corrupt. She is trading on her manufactured looks, and little else. I could put her in a debate with a 10 year old, and she would come up short. Someone please point me to evidence of Palin’s “common sense solutions” in writing - her own writing. Personally, I hope she runs. She will take votes away from any legitimate canidate the right can offer. You betcha.
Megan_B on February 11 at 8:17 a.m.
If being an elitist means reading… than call me an elitist.
And I’d rather have a knowledgeable “elitist” who does the research before making a decision running the country than “joe six pack” who bases his/her decisions on the garbage they are fed and gut “common sense.”
sixandseven on February 11 at 8:44 a.m.
The spokesman removed my posting. Shame on you for silenceing people with opinions. Shame
horse_feathers on February 11 at 10:02 a.m.
To quote Barney Frank, lisp,lisp,lisp, bs, bs, bs.
misjustice on February 11 at 10:44 a.m.
Mr. Broder is, unfortunately, easily impressed. Not so the rest of America. Palin and her hillbilly palm pilot will never poll above the 25 to 30 percent margin considered to be the core of the Republican’t Party. The other 75 to 70 percent of America is not impressed. And if the last election is any guide, the longer the campaign went on, the lower her poll percentages fell; because the more people learned about her, the more they realized that there is no there, there.
She is a proven quitter, an accused tax cheat, an intellectual lightweight, a liar, and therefore - perfect to lead the party of Rush Lintball. I say “Bring her on!”
Maybe she and Bobby Jindahl can be running mates. See ya in 2011, yeah, you betcha.
empyrius on February 11 at 11:36 a.m.
Hey all SP is a Great Indian Looking Female!
He-he-he-he
crader72 on February 11 at 6:14 p.m.
Take Palin Seriously? Really? I hope she runs for president out of the sheer entertainment value. “Train Wreck” comes to mind, she’s a Quyalesque lightweight, ill informed and appeals to the sound-byte crowd. Remember Sarah quit on Alaska when the big oil dividends were about to come to an end and she might actually have to do some budgeting and try to be a leader rather than a cheerleader. Take her seriously, right.
coneyisle on February 12 at 7:52 a.m.
Broder has flipped his lid and needs help. This moron has gone bonkers with the nonsense on Palin, who is so inane and inept , that to write glowingly , as Broder has done, indicates serious mental problems with clear thinking. Get the hook on this idiot