Palins on Parade

If you have been under a rock for the past few months or perhaps do not get The Learning Channel (TLC)-- or maybe routinely turn up your nose at anything remotely connected to the former Governor of Alaska—you may have missed most of the installments of Sarah Palin’s Alaska.

Part travelogue, part marketing tool for both Alaska and Sarah Palin, part reality family show (as far as any television show can be considered real given the nature of filming, editing and messaging decisions for any production),  the show has been riveting to watch.

If nothing else, I now want to go to Alaska more than ever to have my breath taken away by the landscape and rugged, untamed beauty of the wilderness. There’s a reason Sarah Palin loves Alaska, and it shows—every Sunday at 9 pm on TLC.

But the biggest thing I’ve learned from this Learning Channel offering isn’t how to shoot a bear to protect the young ‘uns and myself. It isn’t the best way to fell a tree, clean a very large fish, train for the Iditarod, dodge ice crevices on a glacier or put up with Kate Gosselin – oops, I mean a moody teenage girl.

Nope, the best lesson has been that Sarah Palin is a smart cookie, despite an incongruous preference for “prom hair” and flawless makeup in the Alaskan outback.

And I like her.

Which surprises the heck out me because I haven’t been all that impressed with her on the political scene, for a variety of reasons best left for another column.

What I like best is Governor Palin’s love of competition, abundantly clear in every episode, illustrating how a gracious player wins and loses, without a scrap of gloating or rancor. Competition done the Palin way (and that includes her husband Todd, her dad and brother) is about the joy of achieving, and that is one of the best life lessons anyone can claim for her own. Anyone, anywhere, any time.

Palin is gracious and kind, intent on finding and encouraging the best in herself, her family, her friends and everyone she meets. She is focused and sharp, an ace with a rifle or a toddler.

She clearly loves her kids, her life (except the creepy reporter next door), her husband, and the values she talks so much about are true to her core. She is the real deal, no doubt.

So I like Sarah Palin, Alaska, and the entire Palin entourage out of Wasilla, with their goofy games, love of guns and mountains of antlers.
The political landscape, once a tightly held series of photo ops, talk shows and news hours, has just been broadened exponentially by this 8-week series on Alaska and how the Palins enjoy it. Was that her intent all along? Probably.

The finale is Jan 9th – a two-hour special edition of the series. Check your local listings for The Learning Channel and Sarah Palin’s Alaska. Or, if you miss the fishing boat, look for the dvds to be on sale soon.

I told you she was smart, didn’t I? You betcha.

Published in The Virginia Gazette January 8, 2011