Is Sarah Palin beating a Web-savvy White House at its own game?

Creative Commons photo via Flickr.com

We thought we eventually would’ve seen her guest hosting The View, or passing through every Barnes & Noble in America signing her memoir. But for now, Sarah Palin is content to hit the Web-savvy Obama administration where it hurts — from within the depths of the media behemouth, Facebook.

(Obviously, it’s not just a place for angst-ridden teens anymore, Ms. Dowd.)

In a world where Internet clout is becoming the quickest way to mobilize one’s following, Palin upped the ante in the health care debate by posting an Aug. 7 Facebook note featuring the now-infamous “death panels” reference. Since then, the move has been considered an overall victory for Palin, ending when Obama found himself responding on Saturday to what was, essentially, her Facebook status update.

If you’re wondering how a person like Sarah Palin could take-on the White House with Twittering, Facebooking, the appeal lies within approachability that fits the community. Where Barack Obama cultivates an image of eloquence, Palin uses the Internet to blow any sort of formalities out of the water by, in fact, stomping out any inkling of intellectual snobbery like she is an Alaskan pioneer fisher-woman.

In a world where Facebook fans and Twitter followers give us power, Palin has opened up the health care debate (for better or for worse) to people who might not have the time or interest to read through Obama’s latest New York Times op-ed last weekend – or anyone’s latest, for that matter.

Say what you will about the “death panels” comment being inflammatory (it was). And think what you might about Obama’s response being a fumble (it was). Somehow, the only question remaining is this: How on earth did Sarah Palin manage to make Barack Obama so stiff? Minus the controversial phrase-coining, Palin’s media coup boasts strategy from which the President of the U.S. could learn.

And all this from a woman with few Twitter followers. Well, that is until she launches her newest feed.”