Was Sarah Pahlin a Diva?
Thursday, November 6th, 2008I was watching Fox last night and the embedded reporter for the McCain campaign said he was finally given permission to discuss the problems with Pahlin being a “diva”. http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/Politics/story?id=6196407&page=1
I was really struck by how poorly she did in the interviews with Gibson and the Couric interview was a disaster. McCain’s poll numbers dropped after these interviews and then the economic crisis hit. But I didn’t know why. Anyway, Pahlin refused help and coaching on both interviews which staff warned her would be a disaster. (rumor though) And it was.
Apparently, she also didn’t know that Africa was a continent and thought South Africa was like a “county” (yes a county) in the country of Africa.
And then last week of the election cycle she “cracked” under the pressure due to the bad press and was ranting and raving reducing staff to tears (somewhat like I do around the office). The poor woman was thrown into the lime light and was rolling a giant rock up a hill against the country’s visceral reaction toward Bush.
More will come out about both campaigns I am sure, but the perception that people had of Pahlin was real (discounting her) and I am sure it was her small town view of the world of politics in Alaska that she felt she could handle the likes of Katie Couric without help.
So the moral of the story was that Pahlin energized the republican base which she personified, but she performed poorly because of lack of willingness to listen due to inexperience. I am still very much impressed with her as a woman and leader. I hope we see more of her!Is there a lesson to be learned? Nah but the darn 2 year super bowl is over so I had to find something to write about regarding politics!