Game Change

I watched the movie Game Change recently, which is about Sarah Palin.  The movie is widely considered to be a negative depiction of Palin, even by Palin herself (who, as far as I know, has not seen the movie).  And yet, I found myself actually liking Sarah Palin while I was watching it.  Not all of the time, mind you.  She could be pretty ruthless, as when she (on the movie) fired that one aide on account of a mistake.  But the Sarah Palin of the movie came across to me as someone who genuinely cared for her family, who depended on God, who was committed to certain principles, and who loved Alaska, enough to wear an Alaska pin and to care about the public opinion of those who were in her state (even though she later told Steve Schmidt, played by Woody Harrelson, that she did not want to go back to Alaska).

I loved the scene where, right before John McCain was about to introduce Palin to the American people, her family was telling each other to pray for her.  Piper Palin's remark to her mom that it was cheating for God to help Palin win the Vice-Presidential debate was cute.  I also liked the scene where Sarah Palin's husband Todd was giving her advice on how to perform in the Vice-Presidential debate.  He reminded her of a debate she was in when she was running for an Alaskan office, and one of her opponents was a policy wonk.  Todd said that nobody understood what that opponent was saying, but Sarah spoke straight to the people, and she won.  This scene really humanized Sarah Palin, I thought. 

Was Sarah Palin as uninformed as she appeared on the movie?  I'm somewhat doubtful.  There have been some insiders who have said that she wasn't that uninformed.  Carl Cameron's interview with Palin (see here and here) tells me that she has at least some public policy understanding.  Does that mean that I'm saying that Steve Schmidt and Nicole Wallace are lying?  Not necessarily.  Perhaps they got the impression that Palin was less informed than she truly was.  People sometimes assume that I know less than I do.  (And Palin haters will probably point to my post here to say that their assumptions are probably accurate!)  I do agree with Schmidt and Wallace, however, that Palin most likely wasn't informed enough to step into the Presidency.