The Case For Palin As Time Person Of The Year

UPDATE 12/17

In a move that surprised few, Time magazine has named President-elect Barack Obama as its "Person of the Year."

***

Look, people. Barack Obama is going to be Time Magazine's Person Of The Year. You can pretty much put that in the bank, where it will probably end up accruing as much value as anything else you've placed in a soon-to-be-nationalized bank over the past year. And honestly, given the fact that every President of the United States gets to be Time Magazine's Person Of The Year, everyone should be okay with it. Even those opposed to Obama can take heart in the fact they gave the honor to Vladimir Putin last year.

That's not stopping a few people from mounting quixotic campaigns for others. Take this column from MarketWatch's Jon Friedman. He thinks that the Person of the Year honorific should go to Sarah Palin. You remember her, right? Sure you do, she will not ever go away! Anyway, Friedman believes a case can be made for Time to "go out on a limb and select Palin over the obvious pick, President-elect Barack Obama." And it's not because Friedman thinks Obama's undeserving. "Obama revolutionized and electrified the political scene, becoming the first African-American to win the U.S. presidential election," he notes. "Further, he accomplished a far-reaching goal. He made politics seem accessible and relevant to a nation of disenfranchised Americans, including generations of African-Americans."

But Palin, according to Friedman, "achieved something remarkable in her own right," namely, "it was possible for (truly) anyone to rise to political prominence on the national stage, whether she strikes you today as an inspiration or a punch line."

Right! And the same thing can be said for Admiral James Stockdale!

Friedman continues:

Palin's overnight fame seemed even more unlikely than that of Obama, who had followed a carefully scripted game plan designed to capitalize on the disillusionment over such better-known and seasoned rivals as Hillary Clinton and John McCain. By contrast, Palin emerged as the accidental celebrity of politics.

Remember, only a handful of political junkies outside of Alaska knew much about Palin as recently as Aug. 28. Then, 24 hours later, John McCain tapped her to be his running mate and unwittingly unleashed Palinmania. McCain was the presidential candidate on the Republican ticket -- but was there ever any doubt about which one was driving the media train? It was Palin.

I think that if Friedman's under the impression that Palin's rise to prominence didn't come about through a "carefully scripted game plan," he should go back over the cloak-and-dagger tick-tock that brought her from Alaska to Ohio for her big day out as the GOP Veep pick. She had a convention speech reformulated to her specifications, remember? I seem to recall that some new clothes got bought for her or something? And I find it hard to believe that anyone really believes that the McCain campaign "unwittingly unleashed Palinmania." The whole point of having her on the ticket was to unleash some mania for a moribund campaign that had decided that an ever-escalating series of stunts to win news cycles was necessary to win the election.

And anyway, there was also that whole thing about Palin being the largest drag on the McCain ticket? To me, that sort of cuts against the notion that it's a good thing for "anyone to rise to political prominence." Maybe it's important to know that the Vice President isn't in charge of the Senate and stuff!

Anyway, Friedman can rest assured that the magazine will undoubtedly pretend to give Palin a fair hearing. Managing Editor Rick Stengel will pull out all the stops where this pretense is concerned, up to and including empaneling a group of elites to weigh in on the matter. Of course, this year's panel includes NBC News' Brian Williams -- who's likely to go all-in with some historical waxing on the Obama presidency, Elizabeth Edwards -- a fellow at the progressive-leaning Center for American Progress, actor John Slattery -- who canvassed for Obama in Virginia, and Representative Artur Davis (D-AL) -- who went to law school with the President-Elect.

So, I'd say the cards are well nigh stacked in Obama's favor. But even if none of that were true, Stengel's got an even stronger reason to give Obama the nod. With Election Day newspapers emerging as the only truly profitable model of print media out there, Time would be foolish to pass up a chance at that gravy train.

Comments

[omac112211]

Obama should be Time person of the year. Palin has been on the rader for 4 months.
Obama, from winning Iowa in Jan, record breaking fund raising in in Sept, His WIN in Nov, Super Tuesday results in Feb, Rev Wright issue in March, Clinching the delegtes needed in June, travel abroad in Aug, he has dominated the year.

[mdlw]

I would look at her through a microscope first.

Palin took the 2008 Alaska state budget and deleted items, i.e., kitchen appliances for a senior center and a dropout prevention program. Also, she slashed the Alaska Special Olympics program by 20% and deleted monies from a teen pregnancy program.. And there must be someone in Homer, Alaska she does not like...

[Purplevoter]

We need to stop underestimating this lady.
She is a governor of a State and was running for Vice President of the US.
She would have been one heart beat away from being the President of the US.

Yes, she is not prepared to be POTUS but neither was Bush. There are people
out there that see her as a leader. Look, everywhere you look, she is giving interviews
and staying in the spot light. She is cunning and knows what she is doing. Who cares if
she doesn't know where Africa is??!! She is dangerous and we should not underestimate her.

[kittyarmy]

No! No! No! No!

[write2bheard]

She is not going away. The hard right is going to make her their image bearer. We have to accept the facts and deal with the reality that nothing they do bears any relation to logic and reason has no effect. i.e. they believe Palin has foreign policy experience because she gaurded airspace between Alaska and Russia/Obama is a terrorist because he associated with someone who was a violent protester 40 years ago. No basis in logic or rational thinking - They need to discredit someone who supports choice and credit the opponent.

The reality is there is no hope of converting the Hard Right. Logic has no effect and ridicule only bolsters their claim that they are martyrs for the cause of God. We need a different strategy to keep them from converting moderates. I vote for straight up truth, backed up with facts. Do not present the truth harshly or in a demeaning way. However, every lie they tell and every harsh reality they represent needs to be confronted often and loudly with sweet truth. Righ now, the hard right is a very vocal and organized minority. Let's keep them a very definite minority.

Rod Parsley on tv this morning almost convinced me that Obama was the AntiChrist (even tho he never said that directly). I am a diehard Obamaknight. What effect will he have on moderate Obama supporters? Confront on all fronts -- especially the ones where likely converts congregate, not just on our favorite spots.

[manyamile]

how......n­auseating.

[Lee323]

If Palin is selected for the "Person of the Year honorific," it should be renamed the "Person of the Year horrorific­." Her dubious fame comes in large part from the majority of Americans' stupefaction that she was even elevated to Veep candidacy in the first place.

[JodyMcg]

Bottom Line: Americans don't celebrate LOSERS. She lost. Plain and simple, Sarah.

[QueenOfViolets]

Obama is the obvious pick and the right one.

[TheBlackCat]

If you were curious to see how Palin supporters think...

http://www.moonbattery.com

Not for the faint of heart!

[MBLADY]

Time Magazine even considering SP for this honor is a total joke!!!

[Wiserone]

If Time Magazine does bestow the honor of Person of the Year, I will cancel my subscription, my whole family will do likewise and I'll be sure to convince any and all others to do the same.

[luke150]

This argument that Palin is worthy of any praise only because she became famous suddenly is so flawed. Joe the Plumber then is also a qualified candidate for Person of the Year. In a 24/7 TV, print and Internet media it is not a big personal achievement to be an overnight star. I can go further and claim that despite huge personal deficiencies one can still be made a star.

[suhud]

That Time would even consider flash-in-the-pan Palin as Person of the Year--at this historical moment--makes one wonder if First Dude ("Number Two") isn't back to muscling the phone lines, from his desk in the gov's mansion. How insulting to weigh the option of honoring a hate-mongering twit over a beacon of hope like Obama. Wouldn't buy it, much less flip thru it in the supermarket line... The mere idea gives me a worse headache than trying to follow a Palin sentence to completion.

[clamperken]

As discusting as the thought is, I wouldn't be surprised. Afterall, it wouldn't be the first time TIME picked an inanimate object for thier person of the year. Although I do believe the first African-American President would be the better choice!