If she's seeking higher office, Sarah Palin may be flunking her biggest test: Mastering the media

If Sarah Palin wants to a be a serious candidate for president, she will have to master one thing above all else: above knowing the issues, above building her base and above reconciling with the corner of the Republican party's leadership which sees her as a toxic mix of ambition and self-destructive unpredictability.

She must master the media.

So far, it looks like she's been letting the media play her, offering an awkward, stream-of-consciousness rant to justify her abdication of the Alaska governorship that made her look slightly unhinged when carved down to the requisite soundbites for TV and wire copy.

She blamed the media for picking on her -- and there's little doubt she's faced a few cheap shots. But she's also faced some serious reporting unmasking substantial problems in her candidacy for vice president, which she hasn't really addressed (to say nothing of calling a major press conference at the last minute on a 4th of July weekend, then barring reporters who showed up late).

Now, her lawyer has sent a letter to big media outlets warning them they may face legal action if they report on rumors tossed around by some bloggers and pundits that she is being investigated for actions taken during construction of the Wasilla Sports Complex, or may be investigated for embezzlement. Full text here.

Why can I write these words with little fear of a lawsuit? Because I'm just repeating details Palin's lawyer brought up himself. Just as every other mainstream journalist who reports on this letter will do.

Which only makes my point for me: Palin must learn to better master the media, instead of letting it master her.

Any half-witted consultant with a few weeks experience could have told her what that letter was really going to do; at best, it will spark dozens of stories explaining why Palin felt the need to send it in the first place, questioning whether she really values fair press coverage of her actions. At worst, it will snark off big news outlets enough that they will start looking even harder at any allegations, giving reporters even more incentive to dig into her activities and sparking more incisive coverage.

Either way, Palin loses.

I've often felt Palin's biggest problem is that she is the Darwinian result of years of Republican message success. Democratic messages only seem to work for their most talented politicians -- Jimmy Carter played the trust card post-Nixon, Bill Clinton claimed the end of big government, Barack Obama promised change you can believe in.

But Republicans have crafted a message which can fit everyone from George W. Bush to Mark Sanford, Michelle Bachmann and Palin; a family-first, America best blizzard of code words which used to be all you needed to cruise past dysfunctional Democrats to an electoral win in post-9/11 America.

No more. That much was obvious from Palin's painful Friday press conference, where she strung together a litany of catch phrases and aphorisms that ultimately left many pundits wondering exactly why she was leaving office.

Her speech referenced "political operatives" who descended upon Alaska digging for dirt, filing ethics charges against her which cost a hefty sum to fight. She referenced continuing the fight for "all our childrens' futures" from outside the Governor's mansion. She didn't offer a lot of details; another way to ensure the media muddies the waters by providing its own half-baked speculation.

Much as she hated taking his stimulus money, Palin can take a few pointers from the modern master of the news media, President Barack Obama. Obama rarely hectors news outlets, instead maneuvering them into situations where reporters would look like tremendous jerks by being aggressive or incisive.

Are you going to press the President on his transparency flip-flops when he's invited you to do a newscast from the East Wing? Can you get in his face about unrealistically low cost projections for health care when you're conducting a town hall from his living room and airing four different newscasts from the White House? But strand a hyper, perpetually overworked reporter outside the governor's mansion while you're making national news inside, and you'll get plenty of tough pushback.

In truth, Palin's biggest shortcomings are painfully obvious; she doesn't have much experience, she doesn't have a coherent plan to sell herself as a national leader and she hasn't yet learned how to play well with the GOP's biggest power brokers. Even George W. Bush knew populism can only get you so far in the Republican party; Palin seems to be resisting that lesson to her detriment.

Until Palin learns how to handle the press better, she will continue to suffer from these self-inflicted wounds -- gashes she can blame on an overzealous press, but that really lie in her own inability to tell a better story than the national press provides.

Comments

[Lin Young]

John: Obama resigned his Senate seat AFTER he was elected president. Palin resigned her office to to do what? Move on to go salmon fishing with her hubby? In other words, she did not resign to run for or occupy another office. She didn't seem to have anything else to do. She quit for no apparent reason.

And don't call me honey and I won't call you a moron.

[RagsTTiger]

If the best you can do is a typo, you obviously have no argument.

[John]

Uh, Lin, honey, your boy Obama 'walked out before his term was up' as well to move on, too. You know - the Senate seat that his buddies back in Illinois tried to sell to the highest bidder later on? I'm guessing you weren't terribly upset by the fact that 'the people of Illinois elected him to be Senator', but he had other plans. Must be nice to be a Democrat - history always starts this morning....

[Kelly Brown]

"The standards of journalism have dropped yet again."

An individual who can't spell 'indict' correctly really isn't in a position to throw stones.

KB

[RagsTTiger]

I was shocked, not just her decision, but the reaction from media's talking heads. Their comments, where in many cases, totally unprofessional.

Examples:

Rick Sanchez stated she was pregnant. This idiot had previously commented on Paslin's having a special needs child makes her, by default, a poor mother, unable to balance two import jobs.

A few others commented that with Ensign and Sanford's recent problems, that her decision was somehow connected. The media failed to go after former Senator Edwards and his acts. They were just as reprehensible.

One stated that the FBI was about to indite her.

Others were "Waiting for the second high heel to drop with a scandal."

How about the "journalists" that were citing blogs, Twitter and Facebook as reliable sources? Of course double sourcing went out the window years ago.

This lady, and her family, have been the focal point of personal attacks for only one purpose, personal destruction. This trashing of her by the media, and those parading a entertainment shows, has continued. The election was nine month ago, give it a rest already.

Funny, I never heard Bob Hope or Red Skelton do their topical routines using personal attacks.

Just where were the NOW-type organizations defending a woman? Gee they were silent for Clinton, who was a serial sex offender, molester and just general pervert. Sounds balanced to me.

The standards of journalism have dropped yet again.

[Tanya]

This is a really interesting piece. Palin's clumsy handling of the press is something we're aware of in only its most obvious permutations, i.e., that cringe-worthy Couric interview. The fact that her lawyer wrote the most damning press release possible points to incompetence at every level of her organization.

Is it just reverse sexism that prevents anyone from talking about the impact postpartum depression may have played on her flailing bid for the VP spot? I mean, it was reported that she refused to prepare for her date with the dreaded Katie. And what about the fact that of her FIVE children, one is a challenged infant and another is an extremely challenging teen?

Maybe she just can't handle the pressure. I couldn't.

[Ambrose]

Do you not have a spell-checker? Or an editor?

Seriously: "Dawinian", "ther", "ffew"?

It's distracting.

[Lin Young]

Since I believe that McCain's choice of Palin as a running mate basically cost him any chance at the White House, I'm loathe to be too critical of Palin. I'm grateful for any responsibility she played in helping the Democrats re-take the White House.

That said, I believe that Palin's biggest obstacle to becoming a presidential candidate is the same obstacle she will face in ever running for any elected office. She walked out before her term was up. The people of Alaska elected her governor. She knew she would become a "lame duck" at some point. That isn't a good enough reason to resign.

Palin is whacko.

[harry hello]

"She's faced a few cheap shots."
Understatement of the year - Dems have beat on her and her family mercilessly. And the media, happy to do anything to make Obama look better, went right along with it.

And if "experience" had anything to do with it, Obama never would have been elected. He was never in charge of anything.