’08 Closing Shots: Mother Sarah

“Don’t worry one bit about any crying baby,” Ms. Palin said. “That’s the sound of life. I love it, that’s good. I say that, too, because the next one crying could be my son.” — Sarah Palin. New Paris, PA.

This is the lead image in the last NYT Sarah Palin feature story prior to election. It deals with how she has drawn support based on her advocacy for special needs children.

This close-up feels like the final distillation of so many photo-ops of Palin we’ve studied since the RNC. What the image demonstrates — as the starry-eyed candidate poses with someone else’s special needs child — is how Palin, thoroughly glossy and made up with that far away gaze, became — among many things this election — the queen of the poster child.

(image: Paul Crate/News Chief. November 2007. Auburndale, Fla.)