Kelly Anderson Wright

Let’s face it, American women rock. Book authors and basketball players, heads of households and heroes, American women are free to be all they choose to be, or not. Sarah Palin, newly-crowned best-selling author and private citizen, is “all that,” and more.

But more what? The media and her detractors still don’t know what to make of Palin. Now that she’s not a politician, Palin doesn’t follow the rules. She’s not scripted, not packaged and not in sync with old school journalists like Barbara Walters, who openly cringe at Palin’s street-wise jargon.

Sarah seems comfy wherever she is, including Kuwait.

Sarah doesn’t seem to care. She says she’s the most honest she’s ever been, telling talk show host Sean Hannity that all her interviews now are “unplugged.” Every question is fair game, but be careful, Katie Couric… this time, she’ll tell you exactly where Alaskans get their world news (hint: not your network), and what she thinks of the “perky” yet arrogant media anchor who asked her the same question about abortion, 12 different ways.

Palin’s in the ring, her gloves are off, and she’s proving that she’s tougher than a “motha…” bear. No political handlers are scripting what she says. No one is telling her when to eat, what to wear or when to keep her opinions quiet. She’s calling the shots now, she’s gone rogue and she appears to be reveling in it. Why wouldn’t she be? Unlike Senator McCain, she’s not having to tangle with Harry Reid’s health care reform or watch Pelosi’s liberal love-in.

Oprah Winfrey’s not loving it, or Sarah. In her much-hyped, first television interview with the divine Mrs. P., Oprah communicated an intense sense of discomfort and insecurity. “Do I need to worry? Do I need to worry that you’re going to get your own talk show?” she quizzed Sarah, while squirming in her chair, ostensibly to re-adjust an intimate article of clothing.

Oprah had good reason to worry. When Oprah turned her back on Palin two years ago, she also turned her back on a large segment of women who don’t share Oprah’s point of view on politics, government or God, for that matter. Women in the middle, women on the right, women who call themselves Independents, Republicans, Conservatives, Christians, tea partiers or patriots… Oprah abandoned them when she chose to campaign mightily for her down-for-the-struggle “brotha,” Barack Obama, instead of her BFF, Hillary Clinton.

While she succeeded in putting the first black man in the White House, she also ensured for another 4 years that the only women in the Oval Office would continue to be presidential wives.

Two years later, the women Oprah abandoned, like Sarah, came b-a-a-ck. They tuned-in, en masse, to see their hero, the spirited Sarah P., “unplugged” and decidedly roguish. While the political bonds were gone from Citizen Palin’s life, thankfully, not gone were Sarah’s graciousness, her clarity, her intelligence and her honest, straightforward, pistol-shot-from-the-hip answers.

Part of Sarah’s popularity is her fearlessness. Sarah’s unafraid to say “bull crap” to a shocked Barbara Walters, or “my bad” to Oprah. She repeats her dad’s mantra, “I didn’t retreat… I reloaded,” with a wink, not the whimper Palin haters wish she had.

The day Palin’s interview aired, Oprah received the largest media share she’d received in more than 2 years, easily trouncing her interview with Barack Obama. Sure, Oprah’s loyal audience tuned in to watch “the train wreck,” as they call Palin on liberal blogs. No surprise there. Curiosity seekers, Palin politely calls them.

Oprah’s numbers shot into the heavens on Sarah Palin day, and then plummeted into Hell the next, thanks to the O’s tawdry interview of “the biggest” (meaning successful) female porn star. With scheduling like that, Oprah ensured right-minded women would not stay more than a day.

Insane and intentional scheduling, or did Oprah just mis-judge Palin’s incredible appeal? Oprah doesn’t seem to like Sarah, still. Is she intimidated by Palin’s all-American good-girl looks and fabulous figure? Her beautiful family? Palin’s daughters clearly love her, as does her hubba-hubba, high school sweetheart, Todd, who is an equal partner in their family. Palin bagged herself a “trophy husband,” and Todd got himself an unconventional trophy wife, in the category of Ft. Hood hero, Kimberly Munley.

Could Oprah, the reigning queen of all things female, be just a tad jealous? Oprah has her millions, a media empire and sometimes, Stedman. She also has a lot of dogs. And she used to wield a great deal of influence among America’s women. Until she turned her back on half of them.

Does Oprah, with all her riches and enough power to elect a president, understand the average American woman today better than Sarah does?

Watching Palin answer Oprah’s questions, one can imagine shooting the bull and hoops with Palin. The more she is herself, the more her fans love her. In cities all across America, they are coming out by the thousands to stand in line all night, if necessary, to buy her book and have 15 seconds with the all-American girl who fearlessly took on the three biggest Os on the planet: Big Oil, Obama and Oprah, in that order.

Sarah Palin has survived several train wrecks in the past two years without a scratch. The question on the minds of curiosity-seekers and fans alike is, what’s next, Sarah Barracuda? Could it be, will it be, a talk show?

And is it any coincidence that just days after her interviews with Palin and the female porn star, Oprah announced she is ending her talk show career?

Perhaps the bigger question is, what’s next for Oprah Winfrey? Could it be, will it be, politics?

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