Shaken

Even Barack Obama is saying that Sarah Palin is “shaking things up.” Unfortunately, it’s not clear what she and McCain have got lined up for after things are thoroughly shaken.

Apparently the media have selected to give Palin the Bush treatment from 2000—to follow up the understandable shock that someone so venal and incompetent could rise so high with tepid but polite admiration that the monkey gets anything right.

Palin’s inteview with ABC’s Charlie Gibson, her first public, unscripted interview, is being praised for what the Alaska governor did not do.

The Chicage Tribune praises her, saying she “passes the test.” Meaning, I suppose, a D or higher.

NPR noted that she did not “explode.”

Thankfully, the AP and New York Times were a bit more critical—but in a measured way that suggests that Palin is a special-needs candidate deserving of our understanding and patience. Furthermore, the Times characterized Gibson unflatteringly as resembling an “annoyed” “university president” interviewing a prospective student who he suspects is unprepared for college—thus perpetuating the Republican story of elites versus the pretty yet capable ingenue.