God help me, I read this book. I approached it carefully, like an unexploded grenade- not really wanting to touch it, but feeling the reluctant pull. In all likelihood, Governor Palin will run for President- this book more than convinced me of that. And, even more to the point, despite what the current polls are saying I'm convinced that a Palin-Obama race in 2012 won't be the blowout some Democrats are gleefully predicting.
There were two main parts of this book: the interesting parts and the irritating parts. I'll take them one a time. The interesting parts were just that and more- interesting. Sarah Palin certainly has lead a dynamic life and I can't imagine what it would have been like to move to what would have seemed like the end of the Earth itself and grow up in a state like Alaska that seems to breed self-reliance and independence almost as much as caribou. One thing you can't argue with: Palin is a dedicated public servant and genuinely seems to believe in the promise of America, free market capitalism and the spirit of American enterprise. No doubt, her early political career was impressive. She took on the Republican establishment and Big Oil and won impressively.
The irritating parts come in the latter half of the book, where she recounts her meteoric rise to the Vice-Presidential Nomination in 2008. It's blatantly obvious here that Palin's intent is to correct what she perceives to be a media distortion of her record and actions during the 2008 campaign- it comes across as a nauseatingly self-serving cleaning of her slate- the obvious question being: for what purpose? The obvious answer: to run for President in 2012. She covers every base- from the stories of her family going on shopping sprees on the RNCs dime, to the barrage of political motivated ethics complaints that eventually forced her from office.
Was I converted? No. The social conservatism that infects the Republican Party irritates me beyond belief. On the face of it, I have no real argument against fiscal responsibility and smaller, more cost-efficient government, but I do have a real problem with social conservatives in this country. Common-sense social conservatism I have no real problem with- things like parental notification laws are hard to argue against for me. But outside of that, this country is big enough for a variety of lifestyles, moralities and religions. I'm tired of secularists on the left trying to chase God out of the public sphere in this country but equally tired of evangelical theology being spoon-fed to me by Social Conservatives. My faith is my own, Your faith is your own. Government should have nothing to do with it.
However- although I wasn't a fan of Palin before, I'm bound and determined not to underestimate her as we head into the 2012 election season. Palin is playing her cards perfectly, as far as I'm concerned- from her Facebook and Twitter postings to her reality television show to not one, but both of her books have established a brand and an alternative media platform that allows her to reach a large audience very easily. Making her a formidable contender for the GOP nomination before the contest even begins. The real challenge for Palin is going to be getting independent voters (such as myself) to give her a hard second look. I reckon not to many people bother to check her Twitter or Facebook accounts to her what she thinks straight from the source.
Overall, Going Rogue just confirmed everything that I already disliked about contemporary political memoirs. The politicians who write them tend to do so with an eye on cleaning up their image, 'correcting the record' or making themselves look good in their own words with eye towards posterity or their legacy. This makes reading these books somewhat irritating, because you know that there's a larger agenda at work here and the author is, to a certain extent speaking past you to the larger audience they want to reach.
As a book: this wasn't badly written- or ghost-written, if you want to be cynical about it. It's interesting, because it reveals a lot about Palin's life story and political career that got lost in a lot of the media shuffle during the 2008 campaign. (Was she treated unfairly by the media in 2008? Although I don't agree with her views and probably won't vote for her in 2012, I do think she was a victim of disgracefully sexist treatment by the media- beyond even what Hillary Clinton was subject to during the course of the campaign. On the one hand, if you can't stand the heat, you should get out of the kitchen, but at the same time, there is a double standard for female candidates in this country that the media is culpable in perpetrating.) There are plenty of insights to be found if you're looking for Palin's thoughts on governance and what she believes and whether you agree with her or not, it certainly provides a decent, detailed look into one of the most fascinating and controversial politicians of the past ten years. But make no mistake about it: unless I'm missing some weird intangible, this book left me convinced that she's going to make a run for the Presidency in 2012.
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