I don't believe that Sarah Palin has a clue what she is doing -- other than making easy money, and more of it than she ever dreamed she might, by cashing in on her celebrity. She keeps those dollars coming her way by flirting with a presidential bid, for she is very savvy, and she knows that by playing this game, she keeps herself relevant, as well as in the news. I reached this conclusion just before the Thanksgiving holiday, when the New York Times Magazine did about as favorable a profile of Palin as she has received from any mainstream news outlet that is not owned by Rupert Murdoch.
The author of the Times piece, Robert Draper, a Texas-raised freelance writer who had done a largely favorable history of the Bush II presidency, appears to have had good access to Palin. Draper's kindly look at Palin, however, actually reveals that she is no more prepared (or qualified) to run a presidential race now than she was to run her vice- presidential race two years ago. While Palin clearly has the outsized personality and ego that are necessary for a person to want to attain the highest office in the land, she is conspicuously lacking in presidential skills. If she could get the GOP nomination without a fight, or with just a little fracas, she would take it. But she has yet to show the stuff that is truly needed to win a nomination.
More importantly, too, Palin has shown -- as several Nixon biographers have mentioned to me since she entered the political arena in 2008 -- a decidedly Nixonian nature. But as one historian, who understands Nixon well, noted, Palin has "all Nixon's downsides without his upside, because she lacks his knowledge and intellect." I agree.
I strongly suggest that you click the link provided and read ALL of what John Dean wrote. He is essentially bemoaning the dumbing down of the Presidency which allows a nitwit like Sarah Palin to believe she has a shot at the job.
He makes a lot of very valid points, including that this is a trend which began with Ronald Reagan and was dramatically accelerated by George Bush to the point that it makes the job appear so simple that even a caveman could do it. (Which I guess is ALMOST simple enough for the Grizzled Mama to take on as well. But not quite.)
You know first Palin gets verbally spanked for comparing herself to Ronald Reagan, and now she is compared unfavorably to Richard "Tricky Dick" Nixon, whose left?
Warren G. Harding perhaps?
