Why We Don't Hate (And May Like?) Sarah Palin

I was wondering why Governor Palin had such high "favorability" ratings.

I was wondering why the very liberal Rachel Maddow seemed almost giddy to report on Governor Palin, and the rest of the MSNBC liberal chorus seemed just as excited.

After the first dust settled, I was wondering why people were still divorcing Governor Palin the person and Governor Palin the policies.

Then I thought - it's that word before her name! "Governor". Specifically, Governor of Alaska, a state many people know about only through Into the Wild and other such stories. Perhaps Sarah Palin isn't so bad as Governor of Alaska. Up to now (barring some real issue with Troopergate), she's been a fairly positive presence in the state as far as the casual observer can tell, and since she's so new, pretty much everyone at least started out as a pretty casual observer.

She took on the "good old boys", came in as a fresh face who seemed genuinely more concerned about doing right by Alaskans then perpetuating the horrifying Alaska politicking, and has probably come through in large part, as we see from her soaring popularity in her home state. Maybe, just maybe, there is room in this world for positive press about Sarah Palin, Governor of Alaska.

But.

Sarah Palin, Vice Presidential Nominee is a terrifying thing. So she's anti-choice - what can she do about it, as Governor of Alaska? Probably nothing, and if anything, it would only affect her constituency, who voted her in. I don't worry about an anti-choice Governor of Alaska for the same reason Chuck Hagel is getting play as a possible Cabinet member of the hypothetical Obama administration: abortion isn't an issue for these positions to decide. However, as Vice President (or President) with a Supreme Court up for grabs, this issue goes from nonexistent to huge, or should.

So she's anti-environment. A bit more of an issue than abortion, but she's trying to do well by her constituents by getting them the money from oil exploration. It's not Big Oil - it's Little Oil (or the groundlings who stand to gain) that she claims to favor here. Sure, she could be creative and promote new energies that could also bring in money, but the way she has chosen has potential to help her people more quickly. Fine. But as (Vice) President, she'll have to understand the broader issues, and since she's clearly anti-science, this becomes more of a problem.

The press, and the people on the ground, have to stop evaluating her as the leader of a place so far away in geography and custom that it may as well be another nation, and start judging her as a leader of this land. Hopefully this will sour those giddy faces (and I think that the Great Souring of the media is already starting, I just hope it continues, really).

Governor, you're not in Alaska anymore.

~Meryl

What Exactly Does the VP Do?

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