WASHINGTON — Sarah Palin believes she can win the White House. That’s what she says in a new magazine article out Monday.
Newsweek has an in-depth piece on the former Alaska
governor and possible presidential candidate, complete with an evocative
cover photo with the proclamation “I can win.”
The article, which revisits Palin’s political career
in Alaska in some detail, appears to be part of a strategy in Palin’s
camp to frame the potential contender in light of her more populist,
independent political roots, as opposed to her more recent
fire-breathing, Mama Grizzly, Christian conservative persona.
To that end, the piece runs in sync with the national
premiere of “The Undefeated,” the documentary that examines her career
from a pro-Palin perspective. It opens in select cities July 15.
“I believe that I can win a national election,” Palin
says while interviewed in Iowa, where she attended a screening of the
film. “I’m not so egotistical as to believe that it has to be me, or it
can only be me, to turn things around. But I do believe that I can win.”
But, she hedges in the article, she still hasn’t made
up her mind, despite the assertions of her celebrity daughter Bristol.
Her husband Todd says he’ll support a run.
Of course, Palin has seen her own celebrity grow to
epic heights. The Newsweek article online is accompanied by a striking
photo gallery that would not have been out of place in Tina Brown’s old
publication, Vanity Fair. And it illustrates, yet again, how challenging
it can be to square Palin’s fame, which is considerable, with her
presidential prospects, which polls say are less than sterling.
(Or put another way: You are unlikely to see an
eight-photo layout of, say, Tim Pawlenty in his jogging clothes on
Newsweek’s site anytime soon.)
And she appears to be enjoying her role as a
non-candidate who isn’t locked into a traveling schedule and seems to
take pleasure in confounding journalists and handlers alike.
“We don’t advertise where we’re going,” she says. And
as the article points out, her roles as Fox News commentator, author,
reality-show subject and professional speaker have been lucrative.
Palin, the article makes clear, would like to be
viewed as an independent, reform-minded politician who stood up to
special interests while Alaska’s governor.
“You know, I rarely use the term ‘bipartisanship,'”
she says in the piece. “I use the term ‘independent.’ Piper’s middle
name is ‘Indie.’ That’s the Alaskan way of life. Seventy-three percent
of Alaskans aren’t registered Republican or Democrat, they’re
independent. Todd’s not a registered Republican. Most of the people I
know, they’re independent people saying, ‘Just use common sense.'”
In the piece, by Newsweek’s Peter J. Boyer, Palin is
portrayed as being frustrated that that part of her story hasn’t
resonated with the public. “Do people not understand why (John) McCain
picked me?” she says.
But she also makes clear that she abides by the kind
of fiscally conservative doctrine that fuels the tea party movement,
with which she is now closely associated. She warns House Speaker John
Boehner, R-Ohio, not to agree to a deal to raise the nation’s debt limit
and says that she will be “very disappointed” with the GOP if it goes
along.
She, herself, sees no reason to raise the limit, and
would welcome the sort of extensive cuts that would be necessary to
ensure the government can pay its debts if the deadline passes without
an agreement.
“The fact is that we have $2.6 trillion in revenue
coming in, and if we just use some common sense there — take that
revenue, service the debt first, take care of national priorities — we
don’t have to increase debt.”
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(c) 2011, Tribune Co.
Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services.
