Ms. Palin could be turning to television to restore her tarnished image, jumpstart a 2012 presidential bid, or both. But so far, viewers have mostly witnessed some of the very traits  disarming candor and staggering presumption  that drove some McCain campaign aides to leak damaging accusations about her.

Image Gov. Sarah Palin sat for an interview with Fox News's Greta Van Susteren. Credit... Fox News

The news media has moved on to President-elect Barack Obama and his transition team as they try to get a grip on the perilous state of the economy. Ms. Palin’s interviews dragged the subject back to her campaign woes, and she lingered there, feeding curiosity but making no real effort to steer her questioners to the present.

Her demeanor is as positive and peppy as ever, but the criticism evidently took a toll. Even in her kitchen in Wasilla, Alaska, preparing dinner for the family and visiting reporters (moose chili for Greta Van Susteren, a haddock and salmon casserole for Mr. Lauer), Ms. Palin seemed frozen in the bubble of campaign past, fighting to make her case above the whispers of aides, handlers and media consultants.

When Mr. Lauer asked her if she minded not being allowed to give more interviews during the campaign, Ms. Palin said she would not delve into that kind of “inside baseball,” and then she stole a base. “I would have loved more opportunities to speak to the American people about what I’d like to see of  happen there with our country,” she said pointedly.

Ms. Palin used the term “Sarah-centric” to describe her campaign rallies, arguing that fans were responding to her more as a symbol than as a person. “But not me personally were those cheers for,” she said to Ms. Van Susteren in an interview shown Monday night on Fox News. “But it was just for the representation of a woman on the ticket, a mom, somebody who loves this country so much, somebody very, very committed to policies that I believe will progress this country in the right direction.”