Thuppal: Palin’s memoir to reflect celebrity status, provide no political insight

How does someone become a bestselling author even before releasing her book? Sarah Palin seems… How does someone become a bestselling author even before releasing her book? Sarah Palin seems to know, as her memoir, “Going Rogue: An American Life,” has already become a bestseller through pre-orders alone.

Palin’s book has spent 55 days in Amazon.com’s top 100 bestsellers and is currently the site’s No. 1 bestseller.

In some ways, this hardly comes as a surprise.

The former vice presidential candidate captures the interest of Republicans and Democrats alike. Her unconventional rise to fame, along with her soap opera of a family drama, is intriguing, albeit sometimes puzzling.

“Going Rogue” is a compilation of the reasons why Sarah Palin is such an ordinary, down-to-earth American.

It details her upbringing and faith in God, as well as her experiences — and qualms — with the McCain presidential campaign.

However, Palin’s biography is far from the only book that details her life. A slew of other Palin books, mostly critical, have also hit bookstore shelves in the past weeks.

One of these is “Going Rouge: Sarah Palin, An American Nightmare,” a collection of critical essays that shares the same release date as Palin’s memoir.

“Going Rouge” shares its title with a new coloring and activity book. In it, people can color pictures of pigs and lipstick, while looking for phrases like “Joe the Plumber” in word searches.

In spite of the countless hours of entertainment and insight these books could offer, it’s still puzzling why anyone would want to buy them, or Palin’s actual memoir, in the first place.

Her story and life before politics were explored constantly during her run for the vice presidency, and much of what she has to say is old news.

Furthermore, as someone who has not actually achieved anything significant in the realm of politics, her story is once again without merit.

Then again, stories about her porn-star grandbaby’s daddy will make for a good read.

But America’s obsession over such an inconsequential figure is somewhat unsettling. In reentering the spotlight, Palin doesn’t have much to offer the American public.

Even though some speculate that she might make a bid for the presidency in 2012, evidence suggests that such a push will be ineffective or nonexistent.

Palin and others have said on multiple occasions that she is not retreating but simply reloading.

But she might be in a position to fire blanks if she doesn’t focus on more than rehashing her down-home image.

During a recent interview on the Oprah Winfrey Show, Palin was reminiscent of the woman who stumbled mightily in an interview with Katie Couric.

She sidestepped Winfrey’s questions and reverted to insulting Couric as “the perky one.”

If Palin were planning a serious run in 2012, she would fair better by revamping her image to appeal to a wider audience.

Her base of conservatives doesn’t sway in its support, but neither are her critics.

Supporters like Rush Limbaugh have tried to rationalize her rhetoric, while her opponents continue to see her as a political celebrity, not a political candidate.

Personally, I would not venture to buy or read Palin’s book. Through all her hype, I’ve learned enough about the woman already.

Then again, at a time when many Americans have fallen on hard times and are unsure of the future, they might well relate to someone who presents herself as just your average mom, struggling to balance her career and home life.

But it ends there.

Until Palin decides to brush up on her foreign policy and possibly connect to a more cosmopolitan America, I don’t think we need to pay her any mind.

E-mail Hay at hat23@pitt.edu.