How About a Paris, I Mean PALIN, News Blackout?

Okay, at first I thought it was the McCain campaign advisors being bitter and petty and the media allowing them to do it. I thought they were not exactly acting classy by trashing the running mate of John McCain, who ended his campaign on one of the highest notes in recent history with a statesmanlike concession speech and then relative radio silence save for support for the Commander in Chief to be and a little stint on late night TV. John McCain showed he takes this country and its political processes seriously, and then he gave us a little glimpse of that lighter side to let us know that even in the days after what must have been a crushing defeat toward the end of a long, distinguished political career - but he doesn't take himself too seriously.

See how I'm trying to take the high road here and focus on McCain and the positives? Sure, he may show up in January in a Superbowl ad for Doritoas a la Bob Dole, but in the meantime he's keeping a low profile, preparing to do his job again when the Senate reconvenes.

Sarah Palin? Not so much. Suddenly she's everywhere. She's spreading an image reminiscent of those "Enjoli" perfume ads of the late 1970s - showing us how she can bring home the bacon, fry it up in a pan, and never, never let you (the public) forget you're a man. Let's face it her wardrobe, the venues she's chosen for interviews (her kitchen or big political platforms), her hair suddenly always down and not in the updo - demonstrates she understands she's not getting the women's vote in 2012, except for the passive spouses - so she's focusing on the menfolk. She hits every network, says she's not thinking about 2012, unless, you know, God wants her to run (wait, I can pick up a few God-fearing women there!), says the folks in the campaign doing the back-biting are "jerks" and says she's not going to stoop to partisanship. Not sure what she implies by that last statement. Not sure who IS slipping into partisanship at this moment in this country what with President Bush meeting with President elect Obama, Cheney meeting with Biden, Congress not in session and Paulson apparently in charge of the country (somewhere Alexander Haig is wishing HE could have been Treasury Secretary instead of the middling post of Secretary of State). But, I digress. I can't turn on the TV or log on to ANY news cite without her face and at least two articles front and center. She simultaneously tells all who will listen and all she has gathered that she lost because Bush is a loser, because partisanship has taken over the country (was she not there when she was making campaign speeches of the harshest partisan nature?), and that she is not running for President. Or she might be. Wink wink. Tease tease.

Today she held a press conference and forced other Governors to stand on a dais with her while she basically talked about the campaign while saying she wasn't looking back, but forward. Then the other Governors started grousing about how she made it look like it was some major show of support for Palin as the future of the party (CNN, Dana Bush, 11/13/08). And, was that a 'catwoman' outfit she wore on the stage, er dais? Is she auditioning for party heir apparent or to play Eartha Kitt in the biopic? Still in her catwoman togs, Palin took to the podium of the Republican Governor's Symposium after the maligned "press conference" and started capping on the bail out expansion. Without giving any specifics about what she might do differently of what Paulson and the Bush administration are doing wrong, Palin referred to her earlier press conference in which she said if Washington is going to get mired in "extreme partisanship" that she and the Governors would work out the solution. Huh? How can individual states solve this when most of them are standing in line for money that is owed to them bby the federal government? Palin, whose state is about to begin to feel the pinch of lowered gas prices and will not be able to balance economic woes of individuals and communities off a gross receipts or windfall profits tax of oil companies with individual stimulus payments, says the country will be looking to the Governors for the leadership that she claims is lacking in Washington. She says all of this without really having time to confer with her team back in Alaska and without having conferred with the other Governors, including the ones who didn't go to the press conference where they felt like they were made to be "silent Palin supporters' (CNN, 11/13/08), let alone conferring with any of the decision makers in Washington.

But, the important thing is not the specifics, as "Kitten with a Whip" Palin demonstrated today in TWO press events without even having to go through the sort of costume changes that Cher endures during her prolonged shows, it's that the camera is on her and we love her, we really love her (my apologies to Sally Field).

Palin needs to be governing right now. She should be taking a page from her more learned and seasoned running mate's book and should be displaying class and humility and statesmanship right now. Instead she is borrowing from the well worn path of LiLo, JLo, Nicole and the bad girl and press hog of all press hogs, Paris Hilton. Ms. Hilton may not have been able to name a favorite Bible verse and may have stumbled on questions of politics, but she proved her ability to not take herself too seriously when the McCain camp itself invoked her name in vain and she did her marvelously vapid video. Paris knows her strengths. Palin doesn't seem to get hers. It's not the hot outfits. It's not the moose chili (although I'm sure her chili is very good). It's not being in front of a camera. She may still be a little drunk from the crowds and the presumed adulation (setting aside completely the lopsidedness of the actual popular and electoral votes), and I guess we could have given her a few days to acclimate. But Palin didn't give herself a few days. She wouldn't let go of the spotlight. She WON'T let go of the spotlight. If she's not careful (and careful she should be, the GOP is full of formidable egos and even more formidable intellectuals and potential leaders) she will end up like Gloria Swanson, pathetically addressing the camera and waiting for it to pan in for her close up.

I know this was harsh, but harsh is called for in this instance. Sarah Palin may be setting back the clock for women decades and decades with each preen and each shallow bow to her own magnificence. Women are thinking beings. We all want to be taken seriously. None of us will be hot forever, and even in four years' time things are going to start sagging in that catwoman suit. We only get cute or sexy or feisty for so long. And even the cutest, sexiest and fiestiest need to learn to pass a few mirrors, cameras and microphones without HAVING to take a look, give a wink or grant an interview. Please, think of Maggie Thatcher, for a moment Sarah and remember that even those who didn't get all gushy over her support hose and matronly frame respected her and found her formidable. Try a little more Mags and a little less Paris. Speak when you have something to say, and let the sun set on the media a few times before you go out looking for coverage again. The sleep, the silence will do you good. And it will give the rest of us some respite too. Maybe when we look at you again it will be with renewed openness.