“What is it about Sarah?” muses National Review‘s Kathryn Jean Lopez in a column with the braggy dateline, “U.S. Virgin Islands” (filing from the National Review post-election cruise where they have “Palin on the brain”), in which Lopez argues that Time should consider Gov. Sarah Palin for its “Person of the Year” cover.
Like the “change” from the Obama campaign slogan embraced by so many, Palin offered something different. For some it was an anti-Washington feel. Many consider her a refreshing citizen-politician in the old mold, one that Thomas Jefferson would be proud to meet. Does that make her just like Obama? I do wonder what the campaign would have been like had they both been at the helm: He wouldn’t have had a monopoly on change, and she would have had her own staff and freedom to follow her instincts, and perhaps better advice than she was given as she ran for vice president.
Should Lopez’s words sway you, Time, and you do put Palin on your year-end cover, just don’t be stingy with the airbrush (remember UnretouchedCoverPhotoGate?) Or, wait, forget the airbrush. But maybe no extreme closeups. And, vanity lighting, please.
Liz Cox Barrett is a writer at CJR.