What Oprah Should Have Asked Sarah Palin
In November 2009, the Queen of Talk Shows met the Queen of Excuses for an exclusive interview. Unfortunately, per usual Oprah Winfrey missed several opportunities to truly challenge the statements of a highly controversial guest.
There were high hopes for a long-awaited interview that many were unsure would ever come to fruition. The interview the public finally received however, showed that more than an altruistic sage Oprah is ultimately a media mogul driven by ratings and protecting her brand.
Anyone who watched the interview could easily see the holes in Palin’s logic and yet Oprah never truly challenged the former Governor’s statements on several key issues:
Republican Status Quo:
Palin was correct in asserting that the McCain Palin ticket did not emerge triumphant in the 2008 Presidential Election because the American people were looking for Hope and Change after a Republican Administration had lead the American economy into a massive downturn.
As she stated, nothing she could have done or said would have changed the American perception that a Republican ticket would merely maintain the status quo in American society. This statement should have easily lead to Oprah asking Palin if she came to this understanding only in hindsight or did she have a sense of it during the actual election. If Palin answered that she did have a sense of this negative view of the Republican Party during the election Winfrey should have asked why Palin never tried to address the issue to the McCain campaign?
Katie Couric Interviews:
Palin told Oprah that she had taped hours of footage for her now infamous interviews with Katie Couric for the CBS Evening News. However, Palin claims that Couric carefully constructed a narrative that portrayed Palin in a negative light. As a media producer and a public figure herself, Oprah should have felt obligated to ask Palin if simply saying Katie Couric had an agenda during the interview wasn’t a gross over-simplification of the matter?
After all, Palin herself admitted she left the first interview knowing she did not do a good job. The obvious fact that Palin’s claims against “the perky one” brush over is that the CBS Evening News couldn’t consistently edit Sarah Palin to look a certain way if she did not present herself as such throughout the course of the multi-segment interview.
Also, Oprah should have asked Palin that if she knew from the beginning that the initial interview with Katie Couric did not turn out well, why didn’t Palin simply prepare better and make more of an effort to present herself in a better light for the subsequent interviews? According to Palin herself, the McCain campaign put the follow-up interviews with Katie Couric in Palin’s schedule a fact that leads to the simple question of why a Vice Presidential candidate who knew ahead of time of impending follow-up interviews to a less than desirable initial interview would not take the time to prepare better for something they saw coming?
When Oprah addressed the question about Palin’s reading habits Oprah did not ask point blank what in particular the self professed “avid reader” reads? Both Winfrey and Palin had the opportunity to once and for all put that question to rest and yet neither took it. Why?
Wardrobe:
When the issue of Sarah Palin’s $50,000 designer wardrobe was raised Palin simply responded that no one asks male candidates what they are wearing or who does their hair. Again, Oprah missed a perfect opportunity to call Palin out on her red herring. The issue was not merely the amount of money spent on her wardrobe, but the fact that the self professed pitbull who shops at Wal-Mart was using the funds of Republican National Party donors to pay for her wardrobe. Not forcing Palin to answer questions about her wardrobe in the proper context was an egregious mistake on Winfrey’s part. It is far too easy for a woman whose wardrobe was paid for by public funds to say there is a double standard for men and women when it comes to clothing and Sarah Palin should have finally been forced to properly answer the question given all of the facts.
Abortion:
When speaking about a trip to New Orleans Palin states that for a second she understood why women get abortions – because it is an easy way out of less than desirable circumstances. For a talk show host that has such a strong female audience to allow Palin to make abortion seem like a drive thru for the lazy and uncaring was downright disrespectful to Winfrey’s audience. Oprah should have asked Palin if she truly believes that abortion is an easy decision? Palin should have been forced to challenge her ridiculous statement by being asked about the women and young girls who because of economics, education, family life and any number of other restraints feel as if abortion is the only option. Winfrey should have also challenged Palin’s logic by asking her how she expects these girls and women to provide suitable environments in which to raise children if there is no funding for public services to enable them to do so?
Levi Johnston:
When referring to the father of her grandchild, Levi Johnston, Palin said that his handlers were forcing the teenager to spread mistruths about the Palin family. As Palin spent much of the interview blaming the McCain campaign’s election team for her failures Oprah should have asked Palin if she saw any parallels between her situation during the election and that of Levi Johnston? If Palin did see the similarities does it lead her to have any sense of sympathy for the situation that Johnston has found himself in?
The Need for American Unity:
Palin stated that she was upset that on election night she could not tell the American people that the most important thing was for them to band together to bring hope and change to America. However, Winfrey never asked Palin why if she truly believed America should be united, that she did not speak out against the Tea Party movement and the Birthers? Also, shortly after stating that America needed to be united under their new leader, Palin claimed the Obama Administration had purposely placed investigators throughout Alaska to dig up new ethics violations. How exactly is accusing the current President of the United States of America of having a vendetta against you going to help bring America together?