Maybe Newsweek was onto something, after all. At the end of the first week of Sarah Palin’s hugely successful book tour the question most pundits (and much of the G.O.P.) seem to be asking themselves is what do we do about the Palin problem. Answer: no one has a clue.
On the one hand, Sunday NYT powerhouse Frank Rich thinks she’s “the most important brand in American politics after Barack Obama” (which is a measure of the lack of the G.O.P. as much as anything) and here to stay. On the other, Maureen Dowd, typically thinks Obama needs less Spock and more Palin.
Meanwhile, I think Andrew Sullivan may have actually gone rogue in his coverage of Palin; after shutting down his blog so he could read the book, he’s now calling her a “religious icon of sorts.” Perhaps, Sullivan should consider taking the advice of Liz Cheney, another up and coming star of the G.O.P., who has apparently looked into the Palin future and doesn’t like what she sees. On yesterday’s This Week Cheney reminded George Stephanopolous that there were other far more important concerns in this world: “whether we walk away from Afghanistan in defeat matters much more in the long-term than how many books anybody sells.”
Cheney’s comments came during a round table discussion (video below) about the Rogue phenomenon during which George Will dismissively reminded the world that “she’s selling lots of books, that’s not politics” (though, as Obama can attest to, it certainly can’t hurt!). Whereas, Walter Isaacson appeared to express some admiration for her ability to sell those books “those of us who write books and then go on tour and try and sell those books can’t help but admire the wonderfulness of this.” Isaacson also believes Lou Dobbs will be running for president, possibly on the back of future book sales.
Perhaps the real question is not what we will “do” about Palin but how much Palin, herself, can do before we exhaust all interest in talking and reading about her. We are only beginning week two.
