Two equals, one winner; when Sarah Palin met Oprah Winfrey

A palette of Sarah Palin's book 'Going Rogue' at a Costco in Orem, UT (George Frey/Getty)

If you’re not a fan of Sarah Palin, you might want to take a deep breath, because your nemesis just had a very good day…

Of course, with a year to prepare for this interview and her book, “Going Rogue” to promote, it’s no surprise that Sarah Palin showed up on Oprah Winfrey’s talk show today poised, in good cheer and prepared with an armload’s worth of explanations for the missteps of the 2008 campaign that, for the most part, sounded just plausible enough.

And in an interview intended to burnish the reputations of both interviewer and interviewee, there were two winners — but Palin won just a little bit more.

In front of an oddly quiet studio audience — and millions more at home — Palin hit all the right notes in deflecting blame about the GOP loss last year and laying her “controversies and drama” at the feet of a biased media applying a double standard. But she did it with modesty, self-deprecation and a disarming smile. Telling Oprah and the audience that she was disappointed she didn’t get a chance to “speak my heart and my values” in the campaign and that her political instincts were ignored by McCain campaign operatives, she was also realistic about why her ticket lost the election.

The American people wanted change, she admitted, and “our ticket represented what was perceived as status quo.” And, in a clever turn of phrase, she added “I wasn’t to blame for losing the race, just like I wouldn’t have gotten credit for winning the race.” It was martyrdom delivered in a candy shell.

Her explanation of the debacle that was her interview with Katie Couric early in last year’s campaign started off weak — she says she thought it was just going to be a light-hearted discussion between working moms about raising kids. With all due respect, Governor, this wasn’t a profile in your alumni magazine… Couric’s the host of a national evening newscast, one of America’s most well-known television journalists and owner of a reputation among GOP regulars as part of the enemy camp; you didn’t really think this was just a quick chat among friends, did you?

But Palin improved as she went along, explaining her non-answer to Couric’s famous question about what she reads thusly: Palin says she was, by that point, annoyed with Couric’s overt agenda and badgering and thought the question was insulting — as if Couric was saying, Do you crazy foreigners up in Alaska actually read newspapers and magazines? Palin admits she should have given a more substantive, professional answer, but that point was so pissed off that she just tried to blow off Couric’s insult.

I don’t know about you — but I think that sounds almost reasonable enough to be true. It may not be, but hey… this is politics and television colliding here; “true” is a secondary concern.

Moving on to the tabloid topics — the birth of her son Trig and the relationship with Levi Johnston, father of her grandchild, Palin took the high road, avoided bold statements and subtly reaffirmed her faith and politics. She artfully flew above the “drama,” as she called it, of Johnston’s current fame-whore training regimen. She laughed, she smiled, she sounded gently sad for Levi, but she didn’t engage and she didn’t give up anything juicy.

Where does this leave Sarah Palin now? I’ll leave the politics and the DC insider parsing to others — and indeed, her book is already being run through the fact-checking gauntlet by the press. Looking at her sit-down with Oprah as a television performance, Palin has clearly learned her lessons (granted, in a controlled situation with an interviewer who’s treading as smartly and carefully as she is.) It was a safe performance designed specifically for the Oprah crowd and — “Going Rogue” be damned — she nailed the script word for word.

So, like I said — if you’re betting that Sarah Palin is going to disappear, today’s interview will give you cold comfort. Sarah Palin knows what she’s doing out there…