Inspiration Nation
Sarah Palin's new TV show proves that what she says has consequences.
By Dahlia Lithwick
Slate.com
Posted Friday, April 2, 2010
This week saw Sarah Palin launch a new TV series seeking to move and inspire real Americans while also strenuously arguing that her most vitriolic comments couldn't possibly lead real Americans to do anything at all. The former governor and vice-presidential candidate has a pretty dubious double standard about the line between inspiration and instigation. Palin either believes that her words and exhortations have the power to move America or she doesn't. But she shouldn't get the credit for inspiring us if she refuses to take the blame for stirring up our anger as well.
On Thursday, Palin debuted her much-anticipated Fox News series, Real American Stories, to mixed reviews. The critical consensus seems to be that watching Sarah Palin leached of all of her scorching, spitting political energy is like watching a National Geographic show about sleeping reindeer. Yawn, rinse, repeat. I don't agree. I think Palin is to be commended for attempting to host a series without betraying symptoms of a rage disorder, or pressing the word "socialist" into every other sentence. (No doubt Fox would have paid her twice as much to do that show.) Palin seems to have opted for the Oprah-esque high road, and the first episode of Real American Stories eschewed partisan tirades in favor of inspiring tales that—in her words—"reaffirm" our faith in the ingenuity and drive of "real" Americans.
These generous profiles, of George Weiss, a wealthy philanthropist who helps provide college tuition for underprivileged students; Jason Dunham, a Marine who sacrificed his life to protect his fellow soldiers in Iraq; and the Massies, a family coping with their son's cerebral palsy and the service dog that inspired them all, may strike you as hokey. But at least they hoke across all political and ideological lines. If you ignore the pre-show ugliness between Fox News and her accidental nonguest LL Cool J (who objected when old footage of him appeared in an promo for the show) the most controversial thing about Real American Stories is that Palin agreed to do a TV show that doesn't showcase her extraordinary facility with gun metaphors.
Some viewers may see flashes of Ronald Reagan in this TV valentine to self-starting and ingenious Americans (she says of George Weiss, "There's such power in this idea of the voluntary private-sector contribution that George and others now are making"), but I sense more than just political messaging here. Palin really does seem to want to be involved in a feel-good enterprise that appeals to everyone, across the ideological divide. As she tweeted before the show: "America is EXCEPTIONAL! I'll show you a few 'ordinary' Americans do extraordinary things." And while the Washington Post's Hank Stuever complains that the show is "like a Barbara Walters special for that particular media consumer who always complains that they never report any good news," I'll gladly take it if the alternative was going to be the Barbara Walters special on the Communists who unplugged your Grandma.
(More here.)
By Dahlia Lithwick
Slate.com
Posted Friday, April 2, 2010
This week saw Sarah Palin launch a new TV series seeking to move and inspire real Americans while also strenuously arguing that her most vitriolic comments couldn't possibly lead real Americans to do anything at all. The former governor and vice-presidential candidate has a pretty dubious double standard about the line between inspiration and instigation. Palin either believes that her words and exhortations have the power to move America or she doesn't. But she shouldn't get the credit for inspiring us if she refuses to take the blame for stirring up our anger as well.
On Thursday, Palin debuted her much-anticipated Fox News series, Real American Stories, to mixed reviews. The critical consensus seems to be that watching Sarah Palin leached of all of her scorching, spitting political energy is like watching a National Geographic show about sleeping reindeer. Yawn, rinse, repeat. I don't agree. I think Palin is to be commended for attempting to host a series without betraying symptoms of a rage disorder, or pressing the word "socialist" into every other sentence. (No doubt Fox would have paid her twice as much to do that show.) Palin seems to have opted for the Oprah-esque high road, and the first episode of Real American Stories eschewed partisan tirades in favor of inspiring tales that—in her words—"reaffirm" our faith in the ingenuity and drive of "real" Americans.
These generous profiles, of George Weiss, a wealthy philanthropist who helps provide college tuition for underprivileged students; Jason Dunham, a Marine who sacrificed his life to protect his fellow soldiers in Iraq; and the Massies, a family coping with their son's cerebral palsy and the service dog that inspired them all, may strike you as hokey. But at least they hoke across all political and ideological lines. If you ignore the pre-show ugliness between Fox News and her accidental nonguest LL Cool J (who objected when old footage of him appeared in an promo for the show) the most controversial thing about Real American Stories is that Palin agreed to do a TV show that doesn't showcase her extraordinary facility with gun metaphors.
Some viewers may see flashes of Ronald Reagan in this TV valentine to self-starting and ingenious Americans (she says of George Weiss, "There's such power in this idea of the voluntary private-sector contribution that George and others now are making"), but I sense more than just political messaging here. Palin really does seem to want to be involved in a feel-good enterprise that appeals to everyone, across the ideological divide. As she tweeted before the show: "America is EXCEPTIONAL! I'll show you a few 'ordinary' Americans do extraordinary things." And while the Washington Post's Hank Stuever complains that the show is "like a Barbara Walters special for that particular media consumer who always complains that they never report any good news," I'll gladly take it if the alternative was going to be the Barbara Walters special on the Communists who unplugged your Grandma.
(More here.)
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