Several writers, most notably those on the conservative right, have claimed that Palin is the new Ronald Reagan. As much as I detested the policies of our 40th president, that comparison is decidedly unfair to the Gipper. It’s also politically misleading.

Reagan understood the “big tent” concept of the Republican Party and reached out to moderates and disaffected Democrats. For better or worse, he forged a majority coalition that defined American politics for a quarter century. Even Obama paid homage to it in “The Audacity of Hope,” in which he acknowledged Reagan’s appeal to “the traditional virtues of hard work, patriotism, personal responsibility, optimism and faith.”

Palin is all about small ball. While she has big personal ambitions, her political vision is both narrow and attenuated. She knows nothing about reaching out, and everything about cutting off. Expand the GOP as Reagan did? Hell no. She’s all about shrinking it.