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.

Comments

[Chaz1]

Robert, this is hands down the best assessment of "the Palin bar" that I have read; makes perfect sense all around. For the intransigent Republicans, she will be victorious by merely getting by. For the rest of us, including independen­t/undecide­d voters, I think the bar you describe is right on the money. Thanks for this insightful article and I do hope this line of thinking will get some MSM press via Olberman, et.al.

[RepugsOut08]

I've said it before. You cannot take a person who has had no apparrent interest in politics outside of their own surroundings, and turn them into even a mediocre presidential candidate in a few weeks. She's being swamped with information right now, and she's not even interested in most of it. Add to that the fact that McCain's message keeps changing, and you've got a recipe for a totally befuddled Palin on Thursday night.
She'll get some help with the fact that the time limits on answers will be short, but shutting up quickly is something both she and Biden have trouble doing.
I agree that just pulling this off won't come close to qualifying her to be president, but pulling it off at all will amaze the hell out of me. I just can't imagine anything but a train wreck.

[physicstom]

Has anyone considered the possibility that Palin's handlers might
fit her with a listening device so she can be fed answers during the
debate? Sounds paranoid, but deploying a wide-band jamming device
might not be a bad idea.

[bigkay]

Is everyone forgetting all the gaffes Bush made and he was elected twice!!!!
I fear the news media has so dumbed down the American public they will vote for Palin cause ,you know, she is cute.

[sallieismydog]

Hey, don't underestimate Praline.

Her 4x6 notecards are typed and ready. She is memorizing 2-minute sound bytes. She will duck and jab and pivot with her canned answers and some of American will be impressed with that.

She will have some zingers, and some mean sharp pokes at Biden. he better be prepared --all she has to do is use verbs for a change and people will say she did well.

She is mean and she is going to have her notecards. Ignore her, Joe and focus on Mccain.
DON'T UNDERESTIMATE HER---READ ABOUT THE ALASKA DEBATES---SHE ANSWERED IN RIDICULOUS NONSENSICAL EVASIONS-----AND WON! BE CAREFUL.

[DeniseD]

She might have won in the Alaskan debates (questionable if you have seen any of them), but she is on the national stage now. This is a totally different game.

[JBS]

As long as it's a cash bar, it doesn't really matter.

[deliriousgod]

don't worry, America; Sarah palin has seen you on TV

[lostinNJ1]

By the way, does anyone know the debate format? I hear bits & pieces- that it is going to be very controlled, but I don't have a clear sense of what to expect. Other than Palin will be wearing an earpiece! Heehee.

[PizzaGuy1]

2 min, 2 min then 30 sec, 30 sec.

http://latenightpizzas.wordpress.com

[lostinNJ1]

Thank you!

[DJBrunner]

The very fact that this subject is even being discussed, how low or high the bar should be raised for a VP candidate during a debate, is in itself a sad reflection of just how low this country has sunk.

[obamagal]

Isn't that the truth. Sobering.

[ChicoBrisbane]

The bar should be set as high as the McCain campaign touted Gov. Palin to be. However, in light of recent events (ahem...ka­tie couric) where we got to see the "unpluged" version of Gov. Palin, the bar has obviously been set very low. At this stage of the gane, I would submit that the bar is now sub-terrainian and that a shovel would be needed to dig it before the governor can even try to step over it without stumbling. Thursday is her only shot and if she screws it up, McCain is done! - D-O-N-E, done!

Chico Brisbane
http://chicobrisbane.blogspot.com/

[ElBruce]

Even odds that she comes out in a swimsuit. Anybody? Anybody?

[ifonlyuknew]

That is hilarious!!!

[JustLynn]

Excellent blog and I couldn't agree more. I would like to add though that I am somewhat bewildered and angry by the kid glove treatment Palin seems to have gotten from the press. I do see some evidence that trend is changing, but by now the press should be in the LAST stages of tearing this woman to shreds, not just the beginning stages. Every successive interview she is allowed to give just proves even more strongly what an unintelligent, uninformed person she really is. To have allowed this person to remain standing even this long is a disgrace. The first time she opened her mouth and stated that she had foreign policy experience because she could "see Russia from her house", the wolves should have moved in and torn her to shreds....­.

[krocklin]

People ask "How could McCain have picked a running mate like Palin".

My theory is that it was a senior moment. Who is his biggest hero? Teddy Roosevelt. What was his Party? The Bull Moose Party.

It made sense at the time to him.

[Jimco]

You couldn't follow it because there wasn't one .

[PumaAnn]

The debates aren't for pundits to give her a grade. LOL* They are for voters to get to know the contrary positions.

That's all.

We don't really care, most of us, what the experts think.

[Airmid]

Of all the thousands of 'Palin Bar' blogs, this is far and away the best...

and it needs to be trumpeted from the rooftops, by Jack Cafferty, by Rachel Maddow, by Olbermann, by anyone and everyone with a functional cerebral cortex.

This is NOT a game show. This is not about standing at a lectern proving you're a parrot. This is about demonstrating that you're fit to be POTUS

which she is not, never has been and never will be.

As a woman, I say this with regret, but with certainty. It has nothing to do with gender. It has everything to do with basic competence.

Please, please, get this out to the MSM

[PioneerKing]

Have a little faith Palin will do very well.

Palin is off testing the theatrical style earpiece that she will be wearing.

Palin will be wearing her hair down and sporting one of those tiny earpieces that actors wear that allows them to be fed their lines.

Take not of the 6 second delay that Palin will have before answering any direct question and while Biden is speaking she will be franticly writing notes from the responses that she will be fed to use in follow up questions.

[obamagal]

I agree. I have already sent the link to Maddow and Olbermann. Great idea about Cafferty too.