The Second Coming of Sarah Palin

Well, kind of. America’s most famous hockey mom is on Oprah this week, promoting her memoir. There’s going to be an awful lot of Sarah Palin this week. In the Wall Street Journal, Weekly Standard and his own book, Matt Continetti tries to make the case that Palin is, or rather could be, a populist standard-bearer in the tradition of Andrew Jackson, William Jennings Bryan and Ronald Reagan.

Some of Continetti’s argument is easy to mock. When he points out that Palin’s not as unpopular as some people think, the examples of less popular pols he finds are John Edwards (cheated on his cancer-stricken wife) and Nncy Pelosi (who is, well, Nancy Pelosi). These examples actually weaken Continetti’s case.

One of the problems facing Palin’s supporters is that she has resolutely declined to interest herself in anything that would make her a credible candidate on the national stage. Like many populists she is clear about what she’s against, but not what she’s for beyond slogans, the lighting of torches and the wielding of pitchforks.