Kathleen Parker writing in the Washington Post says, “Time will tell, but what recent history confirms is that Sarah Palin isn’t a serious person. If she had been serious about running for president, she would have spent her time filling in the knowledge gaps so painfully exposed during the 2008 election. Instead, she hit the road in a series of moneymaking, self-promoting stunts and has succeeded in achieving the true American dream: fame and fortune.”
What Ms. Parker does not say in her left handed compliment is that Sarah Palin understands full well how to play the media to her own personal advantage, and that she had no intention of ever running for president. If she were serious about running for president she would have remained governor of Alaska. But Palin, whatever you may think of her, is no fool. She realizes that her candle of fame has a limited wick and when that candle burns out she will be done.
No dear reader, she is no fool. She realized that staying sequestered in Juneau and doing meaningful work as governor was a prescription for obscurity not the path to fame and fortune. As only one of 50 of such public servants trying to actually make a difference she would be removed from the main street news.
Leaving office and launching her own personal celebrity brand made perfect sense if the objective was to leverage – for personal gain – the fortuitous gift handed to her by McCain. More power to her. She didn’t make the rules of what people will pay money for. She simply was smart enough or her handlers were smart enough to take advantage of her celebrity status and use it to extract as much money from the marketplace as is legally allowable. As an entrepreneur she is to be commended even if she isn’t an intellectual heavy weight. This is further evidence that in this society money flows to celebrity more than it flows to talent. You may disagree that this isn’t right – there is no profit in that thinking – and that knowledge and substance should pay more than celebrity, but money doesn’t care what you think.
The question is how can you capitalize on this reality and make yourself a local celebrity that money is attracted to. There is profit in that line of thinking.