Where Should the Bar Be Set for Sarah Palin?
Recently, I wrote tongue-in-cheek that because Republican leadership has been exalting the Greatness of Sarah Palin, they'd set the bar incredibly high for her upcoming debate.
Joking aside, after her scary-ghastly interview with Katie Couric last week, even Republicans understand the scope of that failure, witness their refusing to make her available to simply praise John McCain's debate performance. Amid the frightened reaction and volatile fallout, it's become necessary to take a more realistic view of her debate with Joe Biden. It is important to see the actual threshold she must reach.
And so -- where is the bar for Sarah Palin on Thursday?
Democratic leadership is trying to place it high, contending that she's an excellent debater, a "leviathan of forensics," in their words, as shown by her 2006 gubernatorial debate.
Let's be honest -- this isn't true. This is gamesmanship. I've watched the Alaska debate.
And let's be clear the other way: the challenge isn't whether Sarah Palin can debate -- she can, sort of, in a way. Her challenge is whether she can debate topics she's never had to deal with before. And then explain why Joe Biden is wrong, about everything
So, then, where is the bar for Sarah Palin?
Common wisdom would be that she only has to beat expectations. The problem is, that's no longer true. The reason isn't because Republicans raised the bar so high for her (though they did) -- it's that she lowered it so far for herself. Consider: three days after her awkward interview with Charles Gibson, her approval dropped 12 points. Her scary-ghastly interview with Katie Couric then opened the nation's eyes to the threat she poses to America if elected. A Research 2000 poll taken after that interview not only showed her favorable-to-unfavorable rating the lowest of all candidates, but she dropped to minus 10 points! Even in Alaska, her popularity plummeted a stunning 14 points. John McCain may still like to say how popular she is, but his words only keep serving to show how out-of-touch John McCain is.
As a result of her alarming interviews, doing better than expectations is no longer the bar for Sarah Palin. That ship has long passed. If she uses English in her sentences, she has a good chance of exceeding expectations.
At this point, the bar is that Sarah Palin must prove to a concerned American public that she is qualified to be a heartbeat from the presidency. Most especially under a 72-year old candidate with serious health issues.
Sarah Palin must convince the American public that she can actually lead the nation. Not simply do better than expectations. At this point, there are primitive life forms that could do better than her expectations. She must convince Americans that she won't destroy America.
This is no simple task beyond even the obvious barriers. The first hurdle is that America is in the midst of its biggest economic crisis since the Great Depression, and people are especially desperate for serious leadership. The greater difficulty, however, is that after eight years of George Bush, Americans now understand what happens when you give the presidency to someone just because you'd like to have a beer with them, and are demanding substance, unwilling to risk the nation again.
That's where the bar is.
Sarah Palin has to convince Americans that she can handle Iraq, Afghanistan, Iran, Russia, North Korea, a crushing economic crisis, the $482 billion national debt, health care, education, the environment, nuclear proliferation, the housing crisis, global warming, immigration, abortion, the FBI, Armed Forces, CIA, and every single aspect of national security.
That's where the bar is.
Forget even her childish insistence that she is experienced because she can see Russia. Giving her the benefit of the doubt for her deeper explanation that she really knows all about foreign affairs by reading books -- she has to tell us what books those are. Americans will want to hear what books she has actually read about Pakistan, Iraq, China, Russia, Iran, Latin America, and Venezuela that have made her an accomplished expert. As she claims.
That's where the bar is.
After fearfully avoiding the danger of all major press interviewers, merely wanting to ask her opinion...she has to convince Americans that she can face down the leaders of Russia, China, North Korea, and Iran.
That's where the bar is.
And she set is herself.
It is a bar that focuses on John McCain. Because he chose her. He put America at risk. It was his craven act that put America Last.
The bar isn't to beat low expectations. The bar isn't to show that Sarah Palin can stand for 90 minutes while continuing to breathe. The bar is for Sarah Palin to convince Americans, who have seen her flounder and are at this point terrified of the consequences, that she can actually be President of the United States.
That's where the bar is.
Beating expectations? This isn't about beating expectations. You might not expect a mynah bird to be able to sing "Yankee Doodle," but if it exceeded your expectations, you still wouldn't bankroll it with your life savings star in "Das Rheingold" at the Metropolitan Opera.
This isn't a game show. If you beat expectations, you're safe and invited back next week. You have to prove to Americans, who are now wary, that you can be the Leader of the Free World.
That's where the bar is.
Only weeks before becoming the Republican nominee for vice president, Sarah Palin said she didn't even know what the vice president did every day. What she has to do is convince Americans that she not only knows what the vice president does, but that she understands what the President of the United States does.
And that she can do it.
That's where the bar is.
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She is making application for the same job as
Joe Biden. How about holding BOTH to the same standard
"Moving the bar" is
ABSURD
The Bar should be set in Alaska, in her back yard.
As far as I am concerned, the bar for Palin sits a bit higher then it does for Biden. I have followed Biden for years, I understand his thinking, although I may not agree with him all the time he is one of the few existing longer term politicians that I trust. Palin, hmmm with all her lies, her silly childish comments, her out rageous claims of foreign policy yet never to have traveled out side the NW, and Alaska until a year ago.. there is a lot for her to show me to prove to me she is even remotely ready for VP. There is no way she will ever be ready for the Presidency. She proved that herself.
Can she do it, I doubt she can even meet the expectations you laid out, there is no way she could have boned up that much in such a short period of time. Of course she could have been playing stupid to take Biden off guard, but I can not see anyone doing that to themselves let alone to women in general.
I agree Palin has to prove herself which she has'nt done,so the bar should not be lower but higher for her.
now.... B is for Bar (and Bravo!) in the The Sarah Palin ABCs. Thank you!
http://www.PisforPresidentPalin.com/
from Allegations to Zealot, a 72-year-old heartbeat away from the Presidency.
The bar should be set where it is for Biden, and where it has been for VP nominees that preceded them. It shouldn't be any harder or any easier. The moderator should not take it easy on her, either. If she fails, it will because she was not qualified, not because she was treated differently.
There are no vendettas against her. The only ones are those she has against her critics.
The scariest thing about Palin may be that she thinks she's qualified to be president.
She'd probably be better off behind the bar, serving drinks in an oilpatch bar, I'm sure she'd make pretty good tips.
You know what really pisses me off about Palin? American Women have busted their butts for so many years to get into the upper echelons of business and government, only to have an arrogant and ill-informed (and clueless) woman shoved into it simply to jump start a sputtering campaign. All that work, all those frustrations, all those years, then ... Palin! It disgusts me.
Exactly!! It is incredibly frustrating to see even from as far away as Australia. Our Deputy Prime Minister is Julia Gillard. She is such a competent, intelligent woman. I would confidently put Ms Gillard in a debate with Joe Biden. Palin on the other hand is embarrassing for American women. Heck she is just plain embarrassing. I will be watching the debate on Friday morning my time and thinking of all those competent, intelligent American women who are going to vote against this numbskull.
SET THE BAR 2 MILES FROM THE NORTH POLE AND SEND HER THERE !
I heard a disturbing comment today;
"I don't care if she is stupid. She is one of us."
A woman I recently met told me that she likes Sarah Palin.
When I asked what it was about her that she "likes", she said, "I don't know. I just like her."
Well, I like my rag doll cat, and I can tell you why. But I don't want him to be one heartbeat away from the presidency.
the bar for Sarah Palin is subterranian
I think it should be set very high as she is a VP candidate . . . the way HuffPost makes her sound I think we should just be happy if she keeps the drool in her mouth.
This has gotten completely out of control. It's not TV ratings that are at stake. It's this country, the world, the future of our children. I remember seeing a commentary that stated that John McCain, in his choice of Palin for VP, should be praised for picking a "fresh face", and that this country needed someone who could speak for Americans. Let's go for the first issue. What fresher face could we pick, then that of Obama? If you are going for "different", then he's the one. And as for someone who could speak for all Americans - I sadly supposed that Palin is representative of how the general populace speak. Guess all those "you knows, and likes," coming from a journalism major, are what appeals to the regular American out there. Top it all off with the fact that she can't name one publication that she reads. This is ludicrous, people, and unless everyone starts to think progressively and with a thought to the future, then jibberish is exactly what we will be getting. Remember - it's not a beauty or talent contest at state, not one person's feelings that we need to protect. We have a country at stake here, millions of people at stake, and a world that looks to the US for leadership. IS THIS WHAT WE HAVE TO OFFER?
Thanks for the post, Mr. Elisberg. Fantastic assessment. Be great if you had contacts in the mainstream media. Go on Cafferty. He'd love to have ya. Of course, he is probably saying the very same things as you, as I write this post :>)
Her belief that dinosaurs walked with men came from a misinterpretation of the Flintstone documentary airing on the Fox network.
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