Daniel M. Ryan: Let Palin be Palin

Trust her, and run guard for her if needed
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Here are some excerpts from another must-read at Enter Stage Right:

Republican charismatics like Ronald Reagan or Sarah Palin are often sized up as if there's something wrong about them. Democrat charismatics never attract self-appointed handlers, while Republicans often do. Any advice-giver to a Democrat charismatic is likely to cover up said advice in a protective coat of fawning. On the other hand, Republican charismatics attract unsolicited advice like gold does gold-diggers. You don't have to wait long for some pundit or operative to write about what Mrs. Palin is doing wrong, and why she should change her ways. Strangely, some of them come from liberals trying to cultivate disinterestedness. President Reagan faced the same thing, not only before he became President but afterwards. There have been enough of them to rate a new term: "concern trolls."

A concern troll is the type of character that used to be known as a "buttinsky." The fact that Republican charismatics attract them, but not Democrats, says something about the tilted playing field of politics.

[...]

Republican charismatics tend to be out-of-the-box campaigners while Democrat charismatics are not. The Republican breed seems riskier. Democrats follow a stable pattern: they're excellent speechifiers and charming face-to-face campaigners. Other than that, they're system people. They don't mind being handled, and work well with handlers for that reason. They're dependent upon the staff, and they mostly don't mind being so. President Obama's now-notorious gaffeing without teleprompter clearly indicates his dependency.

On the other hand, a Republican charismatic is more independent of his or her handlers. It's charisma that comes from the base up, by direct bonding with ordinary people... Consequently, the former are more independent of their handlers than the latter. Professional handlers, including the Republican variety, tend to be put ajar by such people... It's a shame that this trust barrier exists, because Sarah Palin is easygoing; she wears her authority lightly. She tends to wield authority like a teacher, the kind who lets all students have their say if need be. Let me be the first to say it: should Sarah Palin become President, diligent members of her Cabinet who liked school will find her a pleasant boss. She'll be very unlike Bill Clinton, who needed George Stephanopoulos as his morning punching bag.

Once again, Republicans need to hear it: let Palin be Palin... The way to handle a charismatic like Sarah Palin is to trust her, and run guard for her if needed.

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Read.The.Whole.Thing.

Best advice we've ever heard. Too bad the GOP won't take it, much less even listen to it.

- JP

Daniel M. Ryan: Palin-hatred, and what it shows

A President Palin would run her cabinet like President Reagan ran his
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At Enter Stage Right, Daniel M. Ryan observes that leftist hatred of Sarah Palin opens a window into the liberal mind, and the humility Gov. Palin demonstrated in the writing style we see in her second book gives us insight into how, if elected president, she would manage her cabinet:

When Mrs. Palin first stepped onto the national stage, there was actually little hatred. The treatment she got was snooting, which well-adjusted people from faraway places and small towns often face from the urban elite. Tina Fey's act, which some people to this day confuse with the real thing, relied on the stereotype of the "Hick from Wasilla."

Unfortunately for the stereotypers, Mrs. Palin proved to be a rather shrewd Governor of an entire state. Shrewd enough to match wits with the supposedly all-powerful oil companies and emerge the better. This shrewdness came through even in interviews where she had supposedly made a fool of herself (or was made a fool of.) Moreover, she proved to be a quick study on the campaign trail.

[...]

As a private citizen, she revealed a previously hidden talent for coming up with zingers that resonated all over the country. There have been liberal carpers who claim she didn't write America By Heart, but no-one had claimed that she didn't coin the revealing phrase "death panels." Her ability to connect with the country became obvious with her Facebook postings. It wasn't until last year's campaign that we saw another previously hidden talent: the knack of making a supposedly unelectable candidate electable. Her track record in this arena is much better than President Obama's.

Again, the liberals found that they had woefully underestimated her. Hence, the outpouring of raw hatred under the cover of "restoring civility" after the Arizona shooting.

[...]

Believe it or not, it was Stanley Fish who revealed something very perceptive about Mrs. Palin. He picked up on her unegotisticality in his favourable review of America By Heart. He noted that she, as a writer, had the habit of standing aside and letting other writers say their piece through extensive quotations. This habit is that of a teacher, the kind that lets a student say his or her piece without "guidance." Should she achieve the Presidency, it's likely that she'll run her cabinet that way: the very opposite of an egotistical moralizer.

That's how President Reagan ran his cabinet, and he was indeed criticized for it. There were allegations that Don Regan and James Baker III were running personal fiefdoms. His leadership style displeased some, particularly control freaks, but did work well; humility often does. This precedent should answer some questions about her qualifications – to wit, "she's qualified when it comes to delegating."

Her teacher's style answers to another kind of animosity. There are people, not exactly qualified in the humility department, who would be rankled at serving in a cabinet under "Teacher Sarah." I offer the personal opinion that such rankling says more about them than her.

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- JP