Palin's 21st-century stealth campaign of surgical strikes keeps Obama off balance

"Sarah Palin talks to a young fan while at a book tour stop in Roanoke, Va in this Nov. 22, 2009 file photo." (Don Petersen/AP Photo)

“People aren’t going to like Sarah in the same way that an earlier generation liked Ike," writes Ilya Somin of The Volokh Conspiracy in a damned-by-faint-praise critique of Sarah Palin's Going Rogue. While admittedly "initially sympathetic to Palin," Professor Somin worries that she hasn't been doing her homework. We think he's missing a big — if below the radar for some Palinologists — part of the picture, discussed below, but first his take:

Ultimately, the problem with Palin is not that she is folksy, that she is religious, that she didn’t attend a prestigious university, or that she dislikes “East Coast elites.” These are all side issues. Like [John Mark] Reynolds, I also don’t believe that she is stupid. The problem is that she is ignorant about major national political issues, and has made no apparent effort to remedy that ignorance. That might be perfectly fine if she limited her ambitions to Alaska (she does seem to be knowledgeable about Alaska issues) or decided to be just a pop culture figure or activist. It is far more problematic if she intends to run for president.

Sarah Palin "Ignorant about major national political issues"? Busy with his scholarly nose in her book, the professor may have missed Palin's ongoing series of Facebook essays, op ed columns in the Wall Street Journal and other major old-media publications, as well as twitter messages to her nearly 34,000 followers, all part of a 21st-century stealth campaign of surgical strikes strategically timed to keep off balance her arch rival for the soul of the nation. Her latest, "Mr. President: Boycott Copenhagen; Investigate Your Climate Change Experts," posted yesterday, throws down the gauntlet as President Obama prepares to attend next week's UN Climate-Change Conference:

The president’s decision to attend the international climate conference in Copenhagen needs to be reconsidered in light of the unfolding Climategate scandal. The leaked e-mails involved in Climategate expose the unscientific behavior of leading climate scientists who deliberately destroyed records to block information requests, manipulated data to “hide the decline” in global temperatures, and conspired to silence the critics of man-made global warming. I support Senator James Inhofe’s call for a full investigation into this scandal. Because it involves many of the same personalities and entities behind the Copenhagen conference, Climategate calls into question many of the proposals being pushed there, including anything that would lead to a cap and tax plan.

It was the self-professed rodeo clown himself, Glenn Beck, who put his finger on Sarah Palin's "strategery" in a tweet last July:

Sarah P. Think like a Comm organizer.They were overloading the system. She is 6 steps ahead. VERY SMART lady.

As we blogged back then in "Sarah Palin = 1, Saul Alinsky = 0,"

Expanding beyond 140 characters, Palin recognized that her adversaries — from the dirt-digging thugs on the ground to the fancy lawyers and their bosses behind the curtain — were soldiers in an Alinskyesque, Cloward-Piven-inspired army of "community organizers" out to destroy her and the small-government, free-market principles she stands and fights for by sowing discontent from within the system. Understanding their modus operandi, she outfoxed them, quoting Gen. MacArthur as she exited stage right victorious [via goparchitect]: We are not retreating; we are advancing in another direction.

Her smarts are something you can't get from books.

Update: Credit where credit is due: Palin signals suppport via Twitter for RNC's response to President Obama's job summit ("while his EPA kills jobs, as Don Serber notes"):

GOP Chair Steele great msg re yestrdy's Job Summit; asks Prez 2 buckle down&work Commonsense Conservative solutions 4 jobs: no Stimulus Redux

Wonder if Chairman Steele is listening. Probably not. Last time he twittered was January 30.

Related must-read: Jeffrey Lord's "Biggest Story of 2009: The Rise of the Virtual Newsroom" in The American Spectator.

Update: "This is why the media is going nuts," says Laura Lee in the comments. Her daughter and son-in-law got up close and personal with Sarah, staying up all night waiting in line to meet her at the Norman, Oklahoma book signing:

People are discovering an authentic American who has values just like theirs.

Loved her from the start.

Update: Maggie's links.

Comments

[goomp]

How can one examine the lack of administrative ability of our current leaders and downplay the knowledge of Sarah?

[Laura Lee Donoho]

Sarah has definitely won some converts on her book tour. My daughter decided to buy Sarah's book for me, then stood in line all night long in Norman, OK to get a wrist band so she could meet Sarah and have her autograph the book the next afternoon.

Charlotte discovered that the people in line to see Sarah were really nice. They saved her place if she needed to go to the bathroom or run an errand and offered her pizza when she was hungry.

Charlotte told me that a massive amount of people were there to see Sarah. She met Sarah's father and shook his hand. He just happened to be standing in line.

She was really impressed by Sarah and called her gracious and very beautiful in person.

This from a daughter who is engaged to a young man who didn't like Sarah. But he also went to see Sarah and was also impressed.

This is why the media is going nuts. People are discovering an authentic American who has values just like theirs.

I think Sarah is extremely courageous (and so does my daughter) to even go on the book tour in this day and time. She has shaken thousands of American hands and when my daughter saw Sarah she didn't see any wet wipes or hand soap present.

[Brooklyn]

Having seen the hype flop before. I remain ever more cynical, and must question a great deal of the excitement.

Sorry, even though I am a fan of Mrs. Palin, and a supporter, I find the fashion is building a 'cult of personality', while the basis is sincerely lacking. Discounting those, who are not fully enthralled as "not getting it", doesn't help.

There is clearly a Gender gap for good reason. Women who are not a part of the Democratic Party mess, who have endlessly been forced to watch Democrats push their ideal - disastrous Feminist, are thrilled to have a fine symbol, a genuine American Female to admire. Sarah Palin is a wonderful positive, but like Ms. Michele Bachmann, Mrs. Laura Bush, Ms. Condi Rice, the mighty Sissy Willis, etc., there are many amazing American Women of strength, ability, decency, etc.

The problem is, there are so many to acclaim, to push just the ONE, tends to make the expression overt. 24 - 7 gushing on Mrs. Palin is like eating sugar icing all day long. There is a little substance lacking, and we experienced similar excitement with a former Lobbyist - Senator - Actor named Fred Thompson.

TWEETING in this manner is not really a demonstration of enlightened Leadership, and when we encounter a live Interview with Mrs. Palin, the opposite image is provided. Perhaps Mr. Steele is just a little more busy, or Mrs. Palin is more focused on image.

The comparisons to Mr. Reagan are completely unfair to any living politician. However, I know Mr. Reagan would never have abandoned the Governorship, a job he swore to complete. That is a huge problem for myself, and all the excuses simply don't justify the poorly handled exit from a prior responsibility of such great importance.

Also, the vivid contradiction of the embrace of the disastrous McCain 'whatever is popular' in politics mindset, is a genuine problem for the shaping of Mrs. Palin as the next Reagan. Ronald Reagan probably would have not accepted the VP slot on the misguided Maverick train. But unlike the hype, Mrs. Palin developed her political career in the same manner as John McCain, being a moderate reformer who stuck it to her own Party. Even if those populist tax increases on Oil Companies are a glaring contradiction, just as Mr. Thompson's push for the mindless McCain-Feingold Bill.

We all seek an ideal, a real hero to get behind. It is healthy to have inspirational figures. Mrs. Palin is truly attractive in a personal sense. A fine American Women, devoted to Family, with some wonderful beliefs.

But unfortunately, the same emotive, reactionary types, take this Celebrity and turn it into the only acceptable 'conservative'. They begin to debase all in the name of the ONE, and it grows ugly. Instead of growing a strong team effort, we see the push for the only acceptable Ideal, built mostly on an image.

A similar form of fashion, grew to a fever pitch after 2004, as many self serving extremes on the right, grew reactionary in the face of fears over Iraq. They began to debase the Republican Party and the Bush Presidency, with many Elite Conservative Pundits blowing with the winds. The focused obsessively on the small, like "Pork", or the domestic, like "Immigration", while the larger picture of the GWOT, needed reforms in the big Fish of Entitlements, the horrid offering of the alternative Democratic Party, were ignored.

In the end, these same hyperbolic Conservatives ended up undermining their own interests in Washington, and the Nation has suffered for it. They helped enable the empowerment of Nancy Pelosi, Harry Reid, Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, etc., prior to 2006, which also helped the misguided like John McCain.

Now Sarah Palin is a wonderful American, but she too, enabled the Maverick, and embraced much of his platform, even diminishing sound interrogation techniques like Waterboarding. Her big response to Mr. Biden's unethical undermining of the sound policies of the Bush Administration and other Republicans after 9-11, was a weak "all Administrations make mistakes". The McCain-Palin Campaign was as sincere disaster, which enabled the Democratic Party folly even further. Ironically, the offering from an unknown Plumber named JOE, proved more effective than the two named Nominees for the GOP in the general election against the DNC.

So it is hard for someone like myself, who studies the record, to see Mrs. Palin as the sole savior of us all. I keep giving her the chance to match this hype, but every moment I encounter her in real time, she fails to live up to this inflation. Anyone can have help in writing a book, and writing an article, or even a TWEET. These days it is easy, to listen to some Elite Conservative radio program, read a Conservative Blog, etc., to know the right buzz words to capture the moment.

I feel strongly it takes a team. And in Virginia and NJ recently, it took more than repeated mention of the words "Ronald Reagan" and "Conservative Principles". I don't doubt I can be mistaken. But I know well, that my view of seeing the human nature in all, tends to keep me from being disappointed. GW Bush was simply a great President, perhaps as impressive as the Legendary Gipper, with such admirable Leadership provided after 9-11.

There are many voices in Conservative Circles who still offer a stereotype about the former Bush Administration, that defies the facts. They are stuck on a mantra of accepted conventional wisdom built on fashion. Nothing is perfect, but it is stunning to see the misrepresentation. GW Bush deserved far better. Some still try to equate the two Parties. Objectivity, reason, logic, etc., is often lost, and we all suffer for it.

Now I hope my friends are right. I hope my instincts are wrong. I want a hero, and welcome it. I hope Sarah Palin succeeds in whatever she does, and that it helps Our fine Nation. I hope whoever wins the Republican Nomination in 2012, will run a fine race, and we can all join together to support for defeating this disastrous Democratic Partisan offering we see today.

We shall see...