The XX Factor

Emily, Hanna, Jess, Rachael, if Sarah Palin were Sam Palin, would anyone still be interested in her? Dan Quayle was a good-looking, young, conservative, politician who, in his roll-out as a vice-presidential candidate, impressed everyone as being a dope who was in over his head. Yes, he got to serve as vice president, but beyond his spelling of "pototoe" and denunciation of Murphy Brown (and I agree with him that unwed motherhood should not be glamorized), he is little remembered and has blessedly slipped out of public life. I had no idea who Sarah Palin was until her convention debut. It was a corker of a speech (written, of course, by someone else) and it showed that she had magic before a crowd, which is no small thing. However, what she has demonstrated ever since is that she is nothing but a personality. She apparently in her book tries to make a virtue of her ordinariness as a qualification for office. But who cares whether you come from a modest or privileged background if you think you can be president of the United States without the vaguest understanding of-or willingness to study(!)-the issues of the day. So after she was unable to finish out a single term as governor of Alaska, here we are talking about her and what her political future holds. Oblivion, I hope.