As everyone knows, Sarah Palin recently published her book, Going Rogue.  At an upcoming appearance, officials have set guidelines for the press, including prohibiting non-English speaking press (they also said no foreign press – interesting, since there are many foreign media who ARE English-speaking, just like many American media which are NON-English-speaking).  However, I *AM* sure many people have a lot of questions for her.  One Prospere Magazine would ask would be for her to explain to the American and International public what her definition of “real Americans” are, including where they live, what they do, and perhaps even what they look like.   Of course, a question like that will get whomever doing the asking in trouble – likely kicked out of the event (for “causing trouble” – there is really no freedom of speech in this case).

It’s interesting that Ms. Palin’s people would do this.  I have not heard of other authors, including those with political backgrounds, ban foreign/non-English speaking press at their appearances.  Bill Clinton’s book was pretty big, yet I don’t recall him or his people banning foreign/non-English-speaking press.  Are foreign media banned because Ms. Palin and her entourage don’t want to be heavily criticized? Safety?  Or maybe, it’s just a way of her only allowing “real Americans” (i.e. Americans who speak English) to write about her?  I can kind of understand safety (though this shouldn’t bar foreign press from asking via satellite/webcam, right?  I mean, they wouldn’t really be there in person, but could still participate), but the other two reasons seem xenophobic to me. Perhaps this is just a reflection of the audience she is targeting.  Sad.

It’s hard to believe that there are politicians in this world who don’t long to become more exposed.  Maybe she just wants to live in their little world.  She doesn’t want to expand, and feels anything outside of that little world of hers is “wrong” or “improper.”  Or maybe this is a reflection of her lack of confidence to face the broader public. She is only comfortable being surrounded by people of her like. Given her performances with the media during her campaign, I don’t blame her. But then, I also think that she has a wrong perception of what  a real American is.