Apparently, some folks are irate that Newsweek put a close-up of Sarah Palin on their cover this week and didn’t airbrush away her imperfections.
This, apparently, is “a slap in the face.”
Critics note that it’s pretty standard to touch up photographs, especially close-ups, to be more flattering and that Newsweek photos of Barack Obama are much nicer, with one even putting a halo on this one.
I didn’t pay much attention to the issue when it arrived in the mail yesterday. Certainly, it’s not the best image of Palin I’ve ever seen. If people are looking for evidence that Newsweek is trying to sabotage her, though, the cover story, not the cover, would be a better place to look.
Palin is on the ticket because she connects with everyday Americans. It is not shocking to learn that politics played a big role in the making of a presidential team (ticket-balancing to attract different constituencies has been with us at least since Andrew Jackson ran with John C. Calhoun, a man he later said he would like to kill). But that honest explanation of the rationale for her candidacy—not her preparedness for office, but her personality and nascent maverickism in Alaska—raises an important question, not only about this election but about democratic leadership. Do we want leaders who are everyday folks, or do we want leaders who understand everyday folks? Therein lies an enormous difference, one that could decide the presidential election and, if McCain and Palin were to win, shape the governance of the nation.
There’s much less room for questioning intent here, methinks.
