Sarah Palin's Effective Use of Facebook

How the Former Governor of Alaska Shapes National Debate

Aug 24, 2009 Bill Scherer

Since her resignation in July, Sarah Palin has used Facebook to steer national debate and bypass traditional media.

Sarah Palin's resignation from the highest office in Alaska raised eyebrows among much of the GOP leadership, including some supporters, and raised wine glasses among her detractors, including some GOP leadership. Claiming she had lost any credibility by not completing her first term as governor of Alaska, many political pundits had written Palin off as any kind of political influence for the foreseeable future. It turns out they should have paid more attention to her Facebook account.

By posting on Facebook, Palin has bypassed the traditional media filter and directly addressed the American public. With no one to edit her prose, and no need to be "politically correct," Palin has managed to distill what she sees as critical issues of our time for her readers and create no end of consternation for the Obama administration, as well as congressional leadership.

Sarah Palin on Health Care "Death Panels"

Palin's first salvo to leave the administration picking shrapnel out of its flesh was her August 7th commentary on the Obama administration's approach to health care reform. By metaphorically referring to bureaucratic review of patient care in a government supported system as "death panels," Palin focused the debate on a logical effect of health care reform that favors a public option. The term "public option" leaves many people scratching their heads, while the phrase "death panels" has them scratching out political eyeballs.

Sarah Palin on President Obama's Energy Policy

On August 19 Palin noted the irony of Obama's two billion dollar endorsement of Brazil's off shore drilling plans as he summarily dismisses expansion of drilling off U.S. coastlines. Her central concern? "One has to wonder if Obama is playing politics and perhaps refusing a "win" for some states just to play to the left with our money."

The "some states" Palin refers includes her home state of Alaska which, according to the former governor, is "...proof you can drill and develop, and preserve nature, with its magnificent caribou herds passing by the Trans Alaska Pipeline System (TAPS), completely unaffected."

Sarah Palin on the Need for Tort Reform

Palin completed her Facebook trifecta by emphasizing the need for tort reform in any health care reform debate. The tort reform argument is that doctors are forced to prescribe extra medical tests, treatments, and other procedures, not to profit from them, but to protect themselves from frivilous malpractice suits that are too easy to pursue within our current legal system.

With each of these issues, Palin has latched on to public sentiment and dragged complex, "back room" political debate out into the public square. Consequently her Facebook page has more fans than any other GOP politician.

Whether any of this translates into a successful presidential bid in 2012 or beyond is impossible to tell, but given her success with a simple Facebook platform, it is probably unwise to dismiss her effect on current policy debate.

The copyright of the article Sarah Palin's Effective Use of Facebook in American Affairs is owned by Bill Scherer. Permission to republish Sarah Palin's Effective Use of Facebook in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.

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Dec 20, 2009 6:33 AM

Guest :

With no 'handlers', this IS Sarah Palin. She is a very intelligent woman and I much appreciate her common sence ideas and policies.

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