Don't Call Us, Sarah, We'll Call You

Imagine for a moment that you're a hiring manager about to interview a job candidate. You've never met him before and he's somewhat intriguing, but you have some pretty serious concerns about whether he's qualified for the position. Some of the claims on his resume appear dubious based on what you've learned about him from others. He shows up for the interview, only to announce that he will be giving a prepared speech, and then going home. 

"But I have a lot of questions I need to ask you!" You might respond, perplexed and frustrated. 

"Sorry, no questions will be allowed," replies the candidate, retreating to his SUV, enveloped by a coterie of unctuous handlers. 

Would you hire this person?

Didn't think so. 

So why should we hire Sarah Palin? She's interviewing for the second-most-powerful job in our government, but refuses to answer questions about her qualifications for the position. Palin has been crisscrossing battleground states giving her stump speech, but the McCain campaign is enforcing a strict no-questions-from-the-media policy at every one of these events. 

This is a great strategy for a campaign that is worried about what Palin's unscripted remarks might reveal about her capacity to serve as Vice President of the United States. Palin gets her picture in the papers and on the Web, plus bites of her canned address on TV and radio news throughout the country, all without having to answer a hard question from an actual journalist. The campaign is using the same strategy to protect McCain, who used to hold court daily with the press on the Straight Talk Express. McCain has not given a press conference in 40 days. Palin has yet to give one as a member of the ticket. 

Today, the campaign went as far as to try to prohibit any journalists from accompanying the pool cameraman assigned to follow Palin on her meetings at the UN with various world leaders, including Afghanistan's Hamid Karzai. 

This strategy is an insult of the highest order, directed squarely at the American people. The fact is, McCain and Palin are interviewing to work for us, the citizens of the United States. How can we possibly decide whether they are qualified if they won't submit to questions from the press? 

I know. You may be wondering, "How did the press get appointed guardian of the people's questions?" Well, it's an imperfect system, but that is the way it has worked in America since its birth. Our founders regarded the press as one of the most important checks on power, and an essential watchdog that reports about government on the citizenry's behalf. The press trifles with this sacred trust on a daily basis, but the fact remains that citizens do not have the time, access (or, sadly, the inclination) to individually question our elected representatives and candidates for elected office. So the press is an imperfect surrogate, for sure, but the best one we've got. So, by giving reporters a perpetual Heisman, McCain and Palin might as well be flipping us all the bird. With both hands. And with a really mean look on their faces.

Here's where it gets really rich: McCain campaign manager Rick Davis has said that Palin will make herself more available to the press only if it shows her the proper "deference." 

Deference?! 

Really?! 

Deference?! Didn't we throw off the shackles of monarchy in 1776? Palin, McCain, Obama, Biden, Bush, Cheney, Pelosi, Reid, the whole lot of them -- they should defer to us, not the other way around. The people and the rule of law are sovereign in the United States of America, not any public official, no matter how powerful. 

Certainly a mere candidate for vice president, who hasn't been elected by anyone save for 114,697 Alaskans, can't possibly have the titanium-plated cohones to think she's above answering to the people she proposes to serve? 

Can she?

Don't call us, Sarah, we'll call you.