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Oprah-Palin: The Interview!
Photo credit: George Burns, Harpo, Inc.
OK, the interview we've all been waiting for, or some of us have been waiting for, or I've been waiting for: Oprah and Sarah Palin.
Did it deliver? What did we learn? (Is Sarah Palin running for president?) Did we learn anything or was this just a big exercise in spin, payback, or salesmanship - for the book and the image? All of the above? Yes, all of the above but a lot more too.
I'd suggest we learned next to nothing - fault in part due to well-parsed leaks of the last few days, and the bounteous reviews and press coverage of the book. We already know a great deal of what's in the book, or think we do, and...
Rule no. 1 in these sorts of interviews: Don't tell people something you didn't already write about, otherwise the publisher who paid you many millions would like to know why you DIDN'T include that in the book. So it all proceeded in a classic by-the-book - literally - manner. O cited bits or pieces from the book, and Sarah effectively confirmed to O what she had just read, with elaboration.Before we go to informational part of this interview, let's go to the subliminal part of it - arguably the more interesting aspect of this whole exercise.
To wit, through body language, vocals, eye contact and all the other manifold forms of human interaction, did Palin convey a sense that she would, in fact, be a viable candidate for prez in '12 despite that highly polished and well-practiced non-answer answer she gave at conclusion? Yes and ...no. Palin did a good job here. She seemed reasonably assured and informed - well she should be about her own life story - without being glib. She pounded the easiest targets in the world - Katie Couric and a losing presidential campaign - while smiling gaily, as if what she was saying was both highly reasonably and beyond dispute. She played right to her hard-right-redder-than-red-state base but extended a hand to the broad middle of the party too. (Look at me! I'm not crazy! I do read books! I even wrote one! Take that Katie!)>>PHOTOS: Click here to see photos of Sarah Palin's media blitz
>>PHOTOS: Click here to see photos of how Oprah Winfrey's look has changed through the years
This lady wasn't merely selling a book. She was selling a promise - a promise that she is reasonable, and tough, all-family-all-the-time.
But she also came across as a whiner at times - as an ingrate, and mean-spirited, as someone who declined or refused to give John McCain so much as a nod of appreciation, barely even acknowledging him. How would that have hurt her? Just a "I'd really like to thank him for the tremendous opportunity..etc. etc." But nothing - or at least nothing generous. It felt feckless, mean-spirited. (But that's what the book is about in some parts, so...)
Let's go through the interview:
Oprah asks if she was "snubbed" when Oprah declined to have her on. Palin: "...it didn't even register." In other words, she had bigger things to worry about than whether O wanted to have her on the show or not. Answer grade: A -. It made Palin look like she was above the grubby silliness of talk show bookings (even though - come on! - you KNEW she had to know exactly what was going on last year with regards to this.)
Oprah asks about Bristol's pregnancy and the campaign's reax. Here was SP's first direct assault on Campaign McCain:
Palin: Says she told 'em, "This is not to be glamorized...This is not to be emulated … I didn't want that message getting out there that we were giddy, happy to become grandparents."
"I hope my kids are off limits..." she told Campaign Mac. "That's not how it turned out." Grade: B. This is a complicated one - an answer that demands a response from Campaign Mac. Did it really seek to "glamorize" it? That's not my recollection. But Palin scrambles to the high ground here, leaving Camp Mac looking like grubby politicos. O should have asked, "why didn't you DEMAND" how your kids were to be portrayed...they are your kids after all." Oprah asks: You write that you were told what to eat, what to say, etc. etc. and were even coached about Atkin's diet. Palin: "...of all the things to worry about...There were a lot of things we should have been worried about [and] not spending time about what I should be eating." Grade: D. Again, SP comes off as Ms. Common Sense, but they come off as creeps, but she also comes off as a whiner. "Oh boo hoo..I had to eat stuff I didn't want to..." This was a deeply unfair answer, and reveals Palin as someone who can play hard ball. She's not as nice as she seems, or pretends to be. The low point of the interview for her.
Oprah: You surprised they were trying to push you to say things you were not comfortable with? Palin: "If I ever got sucked into that to the detriment of the campaign, it was my fault, not theirs." Grade: A. Finally, a reasonably gracious answer. For what may have been the first time in the interview, she actually noted that maybe she was at fault, maybe she did some stupid stuff too.
Oprah: Would the outcome have been different if you were less scripted? Palin: "The reason we lost is because people were sincerely looking for a change...they did not want more of the same. I think our ticket represented what was perceived as status quo." Grade: C. You just know she doesn't believe this. "Status quo?" Wasn't SP anything BUT "status quo." You sense she wants to lash out again at Campaign Mac but holds back. Discretion was better part of valor, I suppose. Oprah: The Levi question. Palin: "I don't think a national TV show is the place to discuss some of the things he's doing or saying...It's kind of a bit heart-breaking to see the road he's on now." Grade: B. Actually, I thought this exchange was one of the stronger moments. Palin does have a uniquely curious problem - the guy who got her daughter pregnant is now an aspiring porn king. But she seemed forgiving, and whether she is or not, that was probably the right tone to strike.
O asks about Trig.
SP: "It was easy to understand why a woman would feel that it's easier to just do away with some less than ideal circumstance, to do away with the problem...There are less than ideal circumstances in our lives. It's how we will react to them and make the most of what we've been given. What I have been given is a gift. [Todd] probably had a better reaction than I did. I was much more frightened...why did this happen? Why God? And he said, ‘God, why NOT us?'"
Grade: A. For SP, this was in fact her best moment.
Oprah: The prez question.
Tags: oprah , oprah winfrey , sarah palin
