It's pretty clear that the McCain campaign is keeping Sarah Palin in seclusion from the media. They are banking on voters seeing this as a boring "process" story. And they have calculated - probably correctly - that a gaffe in the next few days would be far worse than keeping her sequestered.
Meanwhile, we here in the blogosphere and some major media outlets have started to demand some answers from her. Even some conservative commentators like David Frum insist that we should ask her tough questions. But there is only one thing will push this issue over the top and make it THE central issue of the campaign: Barack Obama himself must demand that Sarah Palin take questions from the media.
This is why the O'Reilly interview was so brilliant. He has now taken questions from the most hostile media possible. He is clearly unafraid of the right wing and he has shown an ability to go toe to toe with anybody.
Another good development was Obama's willingness to attack Palin today, even if on the mundane topic of flip-flopping about earmarks. It signaled that no longer will Obama leave Palin alone.
The next step, then, is logical. Barack Obama and/or Joe Biden should say: "We campaigned for 18 months and took questions from real voters and from tough reporters. That's what the American people demand. Every day that Sarah Palin cuts-and-runs from the media is a day that Americans' confidence in her leadership drops."
This must be Issue #1. That John McCain could pick somebody so utterly unprepared for the VP position and keep her hidden in seclusion so she can cram for her debate is unconscionable.
But only with a VERY high profile taunt from Barack Obama can the public shame the McCain campaign into pushing her into an interview.