Sarah Palin Oprah Interview - Should Sarah Palin Run for President?

With the media coverage for her new book, “Going Rogue” , Sarah Palin has an opportunity to tell the public about her values and beliefs, as well as what went on behind the scenes when she ran for the Republican vice presidential position.

I recorded the Oprah show of November 16, 2009 with the Sarah Palin interview, and watched it last night. The interview gave Palin an opportunity to shed some light on some of her foundational beliefs as well as her VP campaign’s media blunders , whether real or perceived through edited copy.

During the interview with Oprah, Palin discussed how she let Katie Couric, who seemed to have a political agenda, get under her skin during the campaign. The current state of journalism puts an agenda behind just about any news, primarily for ratings, sometimes for the sake of egos. I think Sarah Palin was naive not to expect and prepare for a few antagonistic encounters with reporters, but I also think Couric (and Charlie Gibson as well) should have treated Palin with the same respect that supposedly-independent-but-obviously-right-leaning Bill O’Reilly treated Barack Obama with during an interview.

Putting the past aside, Palin has written about an experience the vast majority of Americans will never have: running for Vice President and her non-traditional life of politics balanced with family life. Based on the Oprah interview, I’m putting Palin’s book, Going Rogue: An American Life on my ‘must-read’ list.

There is some speculation that Palin is using this book and promoting it in the media as a way of letting voters know who she really is, given that she was effectively told by Republican party handlers to avoid going “off-script”, which The Wall Street Journal explains well in their book review. And, Palin didn’t tell Oprah she would not be running for presidential office.

Would I vote for Palin for President or Vice President? I doubt she is qualified for these positions, but I wonder if anyone really is, given the complexity of the world economy and international relations. Still, I don’t feel confident with Palin as president, although I think she could run the state I live in far more effectively than the current governor.