Updates: Sarah Palin, the Salahis, and Tiger Woods - David Loftus

THE UNTHINKABLE SARAH PALIN

Sadly, we at American Currents have been unable to resist the urge to comment on a person whose 15 minutes of fame should have been over a year before we came online last November. First, there was the tussle with Newsweek over their use of a Runner’s World photo of Palin for a cover story, which we discussed on Nov. 20. A month later, she caused a tempest in a teaspoon during her Hawaiian vacation by wearing a McCain baseball cap with the name blacked out. Then we commented on Feb. 11 about the chances of Palin being a viable Presidential candidate in 2012 (in a word, no).

After that, another spitstorm came and went when the Fox animated series Family Guy referenced (rather unspectacularly) a girl with Down Syndrome, and Palin called it a “kick in the gut.” Finally, on March 19 the commentators of American Currents assessed what we thought might be the factors in Palin’s apparently enduring appeal. I used the occasion to talk about the cult of folksy personality in recent Presidential elections. (Palin also turned up in passing on April 20 when we discussed whether Joe Klein was justified in saying that she, Glenn Beck, and Rush Limbaugh might be guilty of sedition.)

Although Palin is doing her best to keep her name before the public, her act seems to be wearing thin even among folks one would normally expect to be part of her voting base. In mid June, Bill O’Reilly actually challenged her on her attacks on the Obama administration, and her remarks were so nonsensical and incoherent that the Young Turks Libertarian Republican web site ridiculed her. Not only does she suggest in her response to O’Reilly that big government (her supposed enemy, remember) wasn’t doing enough and should have done a lot more to tackle the Gulf oil spill, but it should have sought assistance from Norway and the Netherlands (normally among those nations targeted by U.S. conservatives for their old-world, “socialist” ideas).

Furthermore, in a June 16 Fox Business Network broadcast appearance with libertarian Ron Paul, she shrugged off the problem of marijuana use. While not in favor of decriminalizing pot smoking, she intimated that perhaps law enforcement resources would be better used elsewhere. “I think we need to prioritize our law enforcement efforts,” Palin said. “And if somebody’s gonna smoke a joint in their house and not do anybody else any harm, then perhaps there are other things our cops should be looking at to engage in and try to clean up some of the other problems that we have in society.” (Back in 2006, Palin told the Anchorage Daily News that she had smoked marijuana when it was legal in Alaska but “didn’t enjoy the experience.”) This is the sort of laissez-faire approach to “tea” that probably won’t go over with Tea Partiers, and though it’ll be a pleasant surprise to her accustomed enemies on the left, it’s probably not enough to make them want to vote for her.

WHITE HOUSE GATE-CRASHERS

On November 30 the American Currents team commented on the Nov. 24 incident in which Tareq and Michaele Salahi managed to sneak into a White House state dinner for India’s prime minister Manmohan Singh without having been invited. They got by two security checkpoints and managed to meet and be photographed with President Obama. In the subsequent barrage of investigations and press releases, it became clear that the couple were publicity seekers who hoped to turn the stunt into a reality TV appearance and future celebrity status. Most of our commentators were fairly unimpressed.

Michaele Salahi’s elaborate preparations, which included dressing in a gold-embroidered red ensemble of Indian clothing garnished with $30,000 in jewelry borrowed from a Washington store, were filmed for a show called “The Real Housewives of Washington, D.C.” -- which is scheduled to begin airing in August. The couple were subpoenaed by the Homeland Security Committee of the U.S. House of Representatives, but they refused to show up for the Dec. 3, 2009 hearing and invoked the Fifth Amendment 32 times in response to questions at a Jan. 20, 2010 hearing.

Unlike the experience of other publicity hounds, the Salahis discovered that it is not always true that there is no such thing as bad publicity. An appearance on Larry King Live was canceled by the show. Tareq Salahi was asked to resign from the Virginia Tourism Board. A USA Today/Gallup poll conducted Dec. 11-13, 2009 found that 70 percent of respondents regarded the Salahis as “losers” for their White House caper, and only 16 percent termed them “winners.” On May 19 of this year they were detained and turned away when their stretch limo ran a red light and attempted to enter a restricted area of the White House grounds on the occasion of a state dinner for Mexico’s president Felipe Calderon.

In a June 17, 2010 press conference to publicize their coming TV series, the Salahis revealed that his mother is suing his dementia-impaired father over their financially troubled vineyard, the Oasis Winery in Hume, Virginia, though the couple said they believe a lot of families are “dysfunctional.” (Aren’t you glad to know that?)

TEED-OFF GOLFER

Even less enthusiastically than about Sarah Palin, American Currents writers had to address the escapades of champion golfer Tiger Woods several times over the past six months. First, with regard to the initial report of a minor fender bender in which he crashed his own vehicle near his home the day after Thanksgiving; then, a cascade of reports over the next two weeks that he had slept with more than a dozen women not his wife, and was therefore taking a break from the sport; and finally, his elaborate and lengthy public apology more than two and a half months after the initial incident. In response to the last, thoroughly sick of Woods and the story, I reviewed the apology as if it were a Winter Olympic sporting event (since those were taking place in Vancouver, BC at roughly the same time) -- one of my favorite pieces for American Currents.

I predicted on Dec. 14 that Woods’s image would be forever tarnished but that he would also bounce back. Sorting out his personal life would take one to three years, I thought, and he would probably lose some corporate sponsors, but once he started playing and winning again, they (or just as many and similarly lucrative contracts) would be back.

That’s pretty much what has happened, in less time. Although Gatorade, AT&T, and Accenture dropped his endorsement deals (and Swiss watch maker Tag Heuer pulled him from its Australian ads), Nike stuck by him and aired a new ad with Woods in the spring of 2010. In 2009, Forbes magazine estimated his personal fortune at $600 million, which makes him the second-wealthiest African-American, after Oprah Winfrey.

His break was shorter than I anticipated: Woods returned to competitive golfing with the PGA Masters Tournament on April 8, 2010. He tied for fourth. In subsequent appearances he has not fared so well, and he withdrew from The Players Tournament in the fourth round, citing an injured neck. As of this writing, his marriage continues to hang in the balance. Divorce rumors have appeared regularly from December to the present, but there has still been no conclusive sign. The former Elin Nordegren and the couple’s two children vacationed in China in early June, but it appeared that the father would be on hand for daughter Sam’s third birthday.