Palin’s goal is to mobilize a base of Fox-watching, resentment-driven primary voters. These people are mainly white and male, and they do not like Michelle Obama. Palin’s characterization of Michelle Obama as an elite black woman who thinks she knows better just stirs the pot of resentment that Palin thinks will drive her primary victories. In the eyes of the typical Palin primary voter, Mrs. Obama’s anti-obesity program is in no way “benign”—it’s another example of that uppity Princeton-educated black ballbuster thinking she knows better than real Americans.
Second, if Palin does get the nomination, sheÂ’ll be a weak candidate with little or no positive agenda. So, sheÂ’ll have to attack Michelle and Barack Obama, Sasha, Malia and Bo, repeatedly and without regard to their poll numbers. She will run a constant Twitter and Facebook attack machine with the goal of making Obama look weak if he doesnÂ’t respond, but also making him look like heÂ’s picking on her and her family if he does. Her strategy for attracting women voters will be to make Obama look like he isnÂ’t tough enough to defend his wife and family, and then to make him look like a jerk for attacking poor defenseless Sarah.
Palin will be able to pursue this strategy in large part because she wonÂ’t be subject to the same media rules as her primary or general opponents. The mainstream media dutifully reports her every tweet but is unable to question her directly on the horseshit that she spews. My guess is that she wonÂ’t travel with any press but Fox and associated friendly outlets. SheÂ’s shown a basic capability of participating in a debate and not making a complete ass of herself, if sheÂ’s prepped correctly, so sheÂ’ll probably outperform the low expectations that will accompany that little ritual.
