Sarah Palin in Reality Show

Analysts dispute if a program showing Sarah Palin’s life in Alaska will make it easier for her to fight for the White House.

On the screen you can see beautiful, wild Alaskan landscapes, mountains sprinkled with snow and crystal-clear streams. Then a close-up of two bears fighting with each other in a river follows, and at this point we hear a loud, “Wow!” Thus, Sarah Palin, who passes by in a boat with her whole family, comments on the struggle of the bears. Alaska is a fantastic place for bringing up children, the former Republican vice presidential candidate persuades viewers.

Promotion of family values, along with a beautiful show of nature, is the main assumption of the series titled, “Sarah Palin’s Alaska.” “People know me from the political stage or from my book perhaps,” Palin says, emphasizing that she is also the mother of five children and wants to show them all that is the most beautiful in Alaska. So in the new reality show, we can see how the godmother of the conservative tea party movement fishes, climbs mountains, canoes, leads a dog sled team, shoots a gun and keeps watch that no boy enters her teenage daughter’s room.

According to TLC, which is airing the eight-episode series, the program simply shows the adventures of Palin’s family. And though in the first episode that aired on Sunday there were no hot discussions about Democrats, Republicans or Barack Obama, some analysts consider the series as an eight-episode pre-election advertisement of the potential candidate in the presidential election. Palin, who was supposed to receive $1 million for each episode, is one of the producers of the series, which allows her to control the image promoted of her and of her family.

“I would describe myself and my family as just normal, average, everyday Americans,” Palin argues, poorly portraying irritation about being perceived as a diva.

Some commentators think that participation in the reality show aired by a station famous for programs in the style of “I didn’t know I was pregnant” may foil Palin’s political aspirations. “Appearing on your own reality show … I am not certain how that fits in the American calculus of ‘that helps me see you in the Oval Office,’” stated Karl Rove, former advisor to President George W. Bush and guru of the Republican Party, emphasizing that Palin lacks the “gravitas” necessary to hold the supreme office. However, Mrs. Palin’s supporters argue that the great number of inexperienced politicians who won this year’s election to Congress shows that Americans don’t pay attention to the “gravitas” of candidates. Therefore, Sarah Palin can still [look] hopefully toward the start of the presidential election in 2012.