Live From New York, It’s Sarah Palin?
posted by Dan SkinnerThursday, October 9th, 2008
Sixteen years ago, Bill Clinton changed the face of presidential campaigning not with a stirring speech, but with an appearance on the Arsenio Hall Show. Playing “Heartbreak Hotel” on saxaphone, Clinton rewrote the notion of how presidential candidates should portray themselves and earned credibility among young voters and African-Americans that helped him secure victory five months later.
Fast-forward to the present, and the buzz around Sarah Palin today is whether or not she’ll make an appearance on tonight’s “Saturday Night Live” political special. With the republican ticket in need of a game-changing moment, the opportunity to go toe-to-toe with her alter ego, Tina Fey, is one that Palin shouldn’t pass up.
As much as any battleground state, SNL has become a can’t-miss destination for presidential hopefuls. While we want our candidates to portray a certain level of dignity, we also like to see that they can take or deliver a joke. Barack Obama, John McCain and Mike Hucakbee have all embraced the opportunity to appear on the show. Huckabee being informed by the Weekend Update staff that there were no republican superdelegates was particularly comical.
The Fey impersonation has become fully intertwined with Palin’s identity. She’d be foolish not to embrace it at this stage. If she does, it could become her “Cinton on Sax” moment.
October 20th, 2008 at 5:13 pm
Well..you called it..Palin was on SNL this weekend (and can’t say her appearance helped her one bit!).