If She's Seeking Higher Office, Sarah Palin May Already Be Failing Her First Test: Mastering the Media

If Sarah Palin wants to a be a serious candidate for president, she must master one thing above all else: above knowing the issues, above building her base and above reconciling with the corner of Republican leadership who see 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.

Subsequent interviews released today with CNN and NBC News haven't helped much, scheduled during a family fishing trip in a distant corner of Alaska (watching her mangle phrases like "forwarding our agenda forward" left me wondering whether anyone suggesting she might get a TV pundit's gig has actually watched her speak on camera).

She has blamed media outlets 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 has done.

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

Any consultant with a few weeks experience could have told her what that letter was really going to do; at best, it has sparked 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 from years of Republican message success. Democratic messages only seem to work for individually 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 electoral wins 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.

She may balk at taking his stimulus money, but Palin should 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 (don't even talk about making them trudge out to the edge of the Aleutian Islands for a sit down, like Palin did yesterday).

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.

Follow Eric Deggans on Twitter: www.twitter.com/Deggans

Comments

[landthatilove]

Dang! I really want Sarah to run. My life revolves around comedy

[SharpDressedMan]

Great article by Eric Deggans.

Sarah Palin makes a big splash in good and bad ways. The good involves her rise to power and national prominence from a middle class background. The bad involves her mistakes and hubris.

I don't believe she will reach the White House. Her flaws are insurmountable. To master the media, she will have to stop being adversarial and whiny. She must grant interviews to all, not just a small select set of media members and provide direct answers to questions. Last weekend was the first time since last year she granted interviews to ABC, AP, and CNN. CBS was shutout.

She fell apart during interviews in which she has little or no control. The Katy Couric interviews are one example. Interviews with Brian Williams were supervised by John McCain. That may have saved Palin from gaffes but it disgraced her stature.

Earlier during her gubernatorial term she informed the public she will be accountable and transparent. Since Troopergate, she has been anything but that.

Her political career reached its zenith last year. Her inexperience in national and global affairs, excursions to unethical practices, unaccountability and her inept lawyer accelerate her downfall.

Logic isn't one of her strong points but emotion is and she stokes her base with emotion. Viewers, listeners and readers eventually figure out when a politician is authentic and credible.

She will make a lot of money but she will never attain respect, credibility or sit in the Oval Office.

[Krankil]

Why is everybody giving her lessons on how she should FOOL most americans to become President?. Do you think that any other woman less "pretty" than Sarah with such a level of ignorance and so many screw ups would have been given any more chances to be presented as a vialable candidate?

[Wiseup2Day]

Well, we voted one inexperienced community organizer into the Presidency..why not try a former Governer..I'd vote for her after this disaster of a President..I regret my vote...bigtime.

[Krankil]

You regret your vote because you just learned that he was a community organizer?

[alwqb]

President of the Harvard Law Revue pretty much sealed the deal for me. President Obama went back to Chicago after college to help the city. What did you do after your college degree? Did you even go to college? Your "community organizer" comment proves you didn't vote for Obama so why lie?

[dollyfedup]

It's funny how the media is making it seem like it's okay she quit her governorship. She still has potential to run for 2012 and possibly be President. I beg to differ. I love the way the media tries to protect the wrongdoing of republicans. If Sanford was a democrat, the media and everyone else would be calling for his resignation. Obama isnt' doing anything, but trying to get us out of this mess we are in and you have people protesting their taxes going up. I don't recall Obama raising taxes. i don't think he raised them yet on the people who make over $250,000

[rbenjamin]

Palin has scripted her life and family into a reality show. It resonates very positively with the Social Values wing of the Republican Party, so I guess that's a kind of media mastery, but look what happened to network TV viewership in the reality era. It tanked. Compare to Republican success in the Palin era. Soon-to-be- citizen Palin seems to approach the media from the show business principle "any publicity is good publicity." This axiom doesn't work in politics.

[TRYKER]

She derides the media, but if she isn't in the news she can't stand it and makes some more noise. She wasn't even planning anything, but then Michael Jackson died and she was forced to improvise to get back in the news...aha, I'll really shock them, I'll resign.
I think she is in a burn-out, babbling incoherently with a forced smile not even noticing the blaring geese laughing at her lame duck analogies.
After seeing the speech a million times, it looks like an "audition tape", perfect lake background, bright sun light and the RED jacket. She was showing how convincing she could be with a teleprompter, that if they will just give her the words to say, she could pull off the "assignment". Her new nose-crinkling tactic is just made for those smearing phrases she specializes in. What presence!
Using the media and controlling the media are two different things, she hasn't learned which is which.

[PepperzMom]

"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."

NATIONAL??? Try state or local....

[jdmn17]

maybe Palin quit Friday when someone informed her Stewart and Colbert were both off for the week, when they get back let the fun begin

[Melissa]

The public doesn't think very much of the media so I don't think she has much to worry about. She won't go away, so get used to it. I hope she makes loads of money in the next few years and does whatever she wants. Won't that make old Maureen Dowd really angry!

[nbanflfan]

I could give a rat'z a z z about how much money she makes being a (fill in the blank) as long as she NEVER holds any national office, I'm good. This quitting train wreck is now truly unelectable, and if she could ever look in the mirror without worshiping her reflection, she would see the reason why.

[alwqb]

Maureen is like the rest of us who think Palin is a joke. How can you be angry when you are laughing?

[MarsAmbassador]

Going one step further, not only does she need to learn how to use the media to her advantage, she needs to learn which battles to fight and which to completely and utterly ignore. I think that's the first step, before even mastering the media.

[Krankil]

She can't learn nothing. Change that head over her shoulder to a less attractive one and you won't hear anybody else recommend what she should do and what not.. It's a shame that the Presidency of the United States became purely a matter of marketing

[PinkoPanther]

Sorry, I think her problems are much bigger than the occasional awkward moment with the mainstream media. Are you trying to tell us that substance doesn't matter and all she should do is become a better linguist?

Screw the media... They are the ones who promoted the sham impeachment of Bill Clinton and sold you down the river with George Bush II... remember?

[Marnie1]

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

How can she. She can't master her mouth, her emotions, her brain,simple sentences, or a structured paragraph.

[outragedkar]

What is a true tragedy is that this clearly clueless woman is going to have a national stage to spew her word salad stupidity because of the lack of education in the US. Unfortunately , she WILL surely be given a talk show on either radio or TV. I wish she had stayed at the job to fade into the woodwork, but it is not to be. It just annoys me that much more intelligent people will not be heard and that she will have an audience while making a ton of money off the backs of hardworking Americans, who she continues to trash.

[quindy]

She is delusional. If she were ugly and fat nobody would give her five minutes of their time. She is still in the news only because of her looks. How else to explain that she is blabbering and media is covering it? I don't see media trailing crazy people on New York City streets who talk to themselves.

[MichaelPWilson]

Sarah Palin needs our help, and a little cooperation.

She continually refers to the day in August when she was selected to run for Vice-president. That is the moment that she was plucked from her universe and thrust fully-formed but unprepared onto a new world.

She longs to return to her previous life. She has dug her heels into the stony shore of an Alaskan Lake and cried out, "Enough!"

She is being blunt. "I want out." Liberals should recognize this. Leave her alone. She has all but promised to go away, but a disappearance is not easy. Help her by treating her as a friend. She needs the Liberal Elite now more than ever.

Conservative forces will not help. Conservatives are loathe to admit a mistake. It is not possible for someone who has built Mrs. Palin to status beyond all proportion to admit they were wrong.

But her survival is at stake. Let her save some dignity. If the world won"t allow her to go away, she may have to be blunt beyond political discourse.

"Leave me alone, I don"t want to play anymore. My family knows this ("Should I leave?" she asks ""Hell yeah, Mom!") I want out of the game!"

She is just a person. We would crack under the onslaught of politics in 21st century politics. We must develop sympathy for Mrs. Palin. She wants to come home. We must leave the door open. She is begging us.

[Gudrun]

If she wants to disappear, she should STOP giving interviews!

[dollyfedup]

I do not understand these so-called supporters of hers. If she can't handle the pressures of being "pro-American" parts of the country (i.e. rural white America). My question is: How the hell can she represent all of the variety of ethnic cultures in the U.S. to the variety of ethnic cultures and leaders around the world? I don't think this is possible. She's doesn't seem like she's use to being around people who are different from herself.

[SharpDressedMan]

Sarah Palin is a drama queen. Drama queens don't know how to or want to make a quiet exit. In fact they want their followers to say "Wait! Don't go Sarah. We wuv you." Then Sarah can smile with relief and ask in an artificial pretentious facial expression "You really want me? Ok, I will stay."

[vpickett59]

Ugh, the thought that this will happen makes me ill.