0:01 — Oprah is incredulous that Sarah Palin hadn't paid any attention — back during the campaign — to the talk about how Oprah had snubbed her. Palin was focused on the campaign. Oprah cannot believe it: "You didn't even know about it?!" — as if Palin is a complete ignoramus not to have been all Oprah-focused. "No offense to you, but it wasn't the center of my universe." Oprah looks away. Jeez. Does Oprah have self-esteem issues like Katie Couric? I'm going to give Oprah the benefit of the doubt and say she's trying to play Palin — stir up that female empathy. And either she'll rope in Palin or she'll somehow get the female audience thinking Oprah good, Palin bad.
0:03 — Palin looks great — youthful, glowing. I notice some obvious false hair stuck in on top. When she brings her hand up to her face, it's strangely light pink. I readjust and realize her face is heavily coated in bronze makeup. They're talking about how the news of Bristol's pregnancy emerged, and she complains that the McCain campaign sent out the message that the Palins were proud and happy to become grandparents, which wasn't the message she'd wanted at all. "Didn't you approve the message?" Oprah asks. No, she'd wanted to turn the news into an occasion to address the problem of teen pregnancy. Asked if she was "naive," she says she was naive to think the press would leave her kids alone. She notes that Obama had asserted that kids were off limits and, prompted by Oprah, indicates that was pretty nice of Obama.
0:13 — The McCain people got on her case about the Atkins Diet.
0:14 — The way the McCain people pushed clothes made her feel as though her whole family was starring in an episode of "What Not to Wear."
0:22 — She thought the interview with Katie Couric would be fun and just "working mom talking with working mom." She concedes that if she were watching the Couric interview, as edited, she too would have thought she was unprepared and unqualified. She "knew it wasn't a good interview," but the McCain people thought it was fine.
0:25 — "Why didn't you just name some books and magazines?" Oprah asks (after showing the clip of Palin blabbering on about reading "all" of the books and magazines). Palin portrays herself as annoyed at Couric: It sounded like an insinuation that Palin, up in Alaska, couldn't possibly know what is going on, and she responded as if that had been the question. That is, she didn't realize how evasive — and dumb — it would sound that she would not get specific.
0:28 — "You're perky too," says Oprah when Palin calls Couric "perky."
0:29 — It took Palin 3 weeks to tell Todd that their unborn child had Down Syndrome. Todd didn't ask why us? He said why not us? That's about right.
0:33 — Everyone wants to hear about Levi Johnston, Oprah tells us. "It's kind of heartbreaking," Palin says, this "aspiring porn." "I call that porn." She wants to focus on her grandson and to think of Levi mainly as the baby's father. Oprah says, when Palin found out that Levi was badmouthing her to the press, "You had to be a little pissed." The audience applauds. "He's on a road that's not a healthy place to be. He's a teenager... He is loved..."
0:41 — "Sweat is my sanity." We see Sarah in shorts in a gym.
0:43 — "Very strong marriage" with Todd. High school sweethearts. Long separations. Solid partnership where both do what needs to be done.
0:50 — "She's not retreating. She's reloading." Palin quotes her dad as she explains what it meant to step down from the governorship.
0:53 — Is she running for President? Oprah presses Palin as Palin wriggles out of the big question.
0:56 — "Oprah you are the queen of talk shows," Palin says, bowing twice with outstretched arms.
0:57 — "I get through the challenges that I do thanks to God and Todd."
SUMMARY: A pleasant chat. Not much substance. Both women seemed fine, such as it was. For the most part, Oprah pursued the traditional women's topics: pregnancy, children, marriage. Palin looked vividly alive and spoke quickly and without stumbles or hesitations. I don't think there was a single word about any serious policy question. It was mostly about how it felt to be Sarah Palin.
Monday, November 16, 2009
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