Obama: “I don’t think about Sarah Palin”
President Barack Obama says he’s focusing on his job and not thinking about whether he might be going head-to-head with Sarah Palin when he’s up for re-election in 2012.
“I don’t speculate on what’s going to happen two years from now,” Obama told ABC’s Barbara Walters in an interview taped Tuesday at the White House.
“You will not tell me that you think you can beat Sarah Palin?” Walters asked.
“What I’m saying is I don’t think about Sarah Palin,” Obama said.
“I spend most of my time right now on how I can be the best possible president, Obama added, declining to be drawn into speculation over the outcome of the next presidential sweepstakes.
Walters was following up on her recent Palin interview in which the former Alaska governor, 2008 Republican vice presidential nominee, and conservative superstar said she believes she can beat Obama.
Palin is one of many Republicans who are considered possible challengers to Obama in two years.
The First Draft: Palin Phenomenon
We can think of no other losing vice presidential candidate who has captured so much media coverage a year AFTER losing the bid for the White House.
The Palin phenomenon perseveres (this week anyway).
The Washington Post has TWO columnists writing about her today — Eugene Robinson’s “Our Evita,” and Richard Cohen “Time for some Palintology.”
The front page of the Post showcases a quote from Sarah Palin’s book “Going Rogue” which is out in bookstores today: “I always remind people from outside our state that there’s plenty of room for all Alaska’s animals — right next to the mashed potatoes.”
The New York Times op-ed page carries a column from Michael Carey of the Anchorage Daily News in which he flips the viewpoint to why Alaskans are fascinated by Palin — “how a woman who takes pride in calling herself a homemaker from Wasilla brought celebrity culture to the Last Frontier.”
She’s been interviewed by Oprah Winfrey and Barbara Walters. CNN’s Larry King had a whole discussion about Palin last night. And David Letterman has been having fun on his late-night show by coming up with things that are more fun than reading Palin’s memoir (number 61 – getting run over by a lawnmower).
james. It is fun watching the left get all in a fit over Governor Palin.
The First Draft: Palin for President?
Is she running for president? Seeking a coffee summit with Hillary Clinton? Or just selling her book?
The only clear answer about Sarah Palin’s intentions is that the questions are drawing lots and lots of U.S. media attention. This week, the former Republican vice presidential candidate and Alaska governor is on the cover of Newsweek magazine. She’s also going on-air for separate interviews with TV’s Oprah Winfrey and Barbara Walters of ABC News. It’s all about promoting her new memoir, “Going Rogue: An American Life,” which goes on sale Tuesday. But the notion that she also might be testing the waters for a 2012 presidential run is what’s drawing the serious attention. Supporters liken her to a populist 21st century Ronald Reagan or Barry Goldwater. But not all the coverage is as she’d like it. Newsweek, which pictures her on its cover as an attractive young woman in running shorts, scoffs at the idea of a Palin 2012 presidential campaign. “Her brand of take-no-prisoners partisanship is not good for the Republicans in the long run and not good for the country,” Newsweek Editor Jon Meacham told MSNBC. “When you have a kind of ‘death panel’ ideology, where you make pronouncements that are factually untenable and tend to inflame the conversation … that’s not good for governance.” She got a warmer reception from another woman of the campaign trail, former Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, whom Palin thinks she might like to meet over coffee. “I absolutely would look forward to having coffee. I’ve never met her. And I think it would be, you know, very interesting to sit down and talk with her,” Clinton, now U.S. secretary of state, said over the weekend. But the last word is likely to be Palin’s. Her book promotion is expected to draw huge crowds across the country. And while a Washington Post/ABC News poll shows that 60 percent of Americans don’t think she’s qualified to be president, a similar percentage of Republicans say she is.
Photo Credits: Reuters/Nathaniel Wilder (Palin); Reuters/Jason Reed (White House); Reuters/Jonathan Ernst (Clinton)
getplaning. Once again you can’t see the forest for the trees.
That’s fine in your one dimenional world. I understand you aren’t smarter than a 5th grader.
NY 23. I won’t repeat what the electorate is saying behind your squeaker of a win for your liberal liar (I do not support the public option…then the day after the election says he is for the public option…yeah, typical liberal…). He beats someone who was in the election for only 3 weeks, was down 15 points and now….as the votes are still being counted is within 2 points. Yeah, go ahead and keep your head in the sand. You know your side is on a sinking ship. I makes me smile at your ignorance.
This is all what makes this article interesting. Palin is a real threat to this administration and congress. If she were to run, she would likely beat Obama because Americans are fleeing from his socialist agenda. The independents are saying they made a mistake to elect this bunch. They are destroying this country as we speak. Yes, destroy…
I’m guessing a lot of us think very little of Sarah Palin.