At the end of the month, Alaskan Governor Sarah Palin will ‘chunk the deuce’ and ride into the sunset. She's got places to be and people to see. In her own words, she will pursue a ‘higher calling’, and many people (including me of course) are wondering what in the heck that means. I have lived long enough to see some political shockers, but this will be a bonehead move or a genius strategy depending on what happens many years down the line. All sarcasm aside, I think people are being unnecessarily harsh on Sarah Palin for changing her mind. Every man (and woman) has a right to quit a job, that is a provision afforded by the Constitution commonly known as the Bill of Rights. In most companies, two weeks notice is sufficient, and Palin gave four. Once upon a time the Alaska governor gig was glamorous and interesting to Sarah Palin, and in 2009 she is finding out that most Americans do not necessarily consider Alaska as mainstream America. The job isn’t too much fun when all the action is happening in LA, New York and Chicago. So what if Sarah Palin want a little more action and Alaska is no more sensational than Joe the Plumber’s stint in the national spotlight.
I can understand why some people are pissed with Sarah Palin’s abrupt decision. Many will be wondering why Palin would risk political backlash with just about 18 months to go on this current job to pursue ‘other interests’, however high the calling may be. Well, from that perspective, it is all kinds of bad. It certainly doesn’t help Sarah Palin that her spokesperson calls Anderson Cooper’s show and fumbles through a bunch of bonehead analogies and blabbing responses to the simplest questions. Is Palin a quitter? Who cares? Sure, Sarah Palin is full of surprises and maybe this will be the last time we see her vying for any public office. Don’t count on that one.
Six months ago, after the Obama election win, I made a couple of crazy suggestions on my blog. One of them was for Sarah Palin to quit the public spectacle altogether, take some time away from all the paparazzi and fundraising crap and get down to studying the issues. Lets face it, Sarah Palin has the beauty thing going for her, and certainly don’t have any public speaking shyness. Sarah Palin can stand with the best in front of any camera and b.s. her way through anything, which certainly is a trait prerequisite for a public office in America. What she needed was a solid grounding on the issues, from economics to foreign policy, and not the empty statements which exposed her as a empty head. So there is every possibility that Sarah Palin is heeding to that school of thought, except that quitting her current gig wasn’t necessarily the best way to embark on that journey. But this is Sarah Palin we are talking about here.
Of course, anyone with half a brain can imagine this argument showing up if Palin dares show up for Presidential campaigns in 2012, or most likely 2016. This ‘quitter’ act will follow her rest of the way and I am not sure anyone shakes off such defining political moment, and lands on their feet. No matter how you spin it, the self-interest argument spins back to the top. Either the governor gig got too hard for Palin and she quit; or she got a fancy Hollywood TV deal and she quit. No pun intended here, but I think the smartest way out would have been to use the health of any one of her children as a cop out. Yes I know very well that it is not most godly thing to do, using your children as a political crutch, but please save the phony sanctimonious speeches for next time. Every politician have used their children as an escape when convenient, and Sarah Palin herself pulled that trick in November with her children (plus Levi Johnson) as props on the campaign stage. The point is that a child’s health (which is a temporary, but off-limits issue) would illicit sympathy instead of ridicule from the American people, whose memory is no more fickle than any politician’s. In 2012, the real facts would have been so blurred that no one will care why she quit three years prior.
Fair to say that Alaskans are not the only group of people caught in a daze this moment. The Republican Party is in a state of shock right about now. Murphy’s Law hit the brand, and everything that can go wrong is indeed going wrong. This is one of those disasters that my father will say ‘going to hell in a hand basket’. Mark my words, if Michael Steele finds this gig a little too challenging, with no end in sight and actually calls it quits as Republican Party leader, please don’t forget to give me my credit as a visionary. Controversial and all, Sarah Palin was one credible piece of the Republican political puzzle, and if they could manage to keep her in a positive light and free from and wild flops, it wouldn’t be hard to galvanize the base for Romney, Pawlenty or whoever wouldn’t mind being crushed by Obama in 2012. The Sarah Palin surprising bow out is uncharacteristic of the feisty, charming, camera-favorite, and that is where it gets a little disappointing.
Personally, I don’t expect to see Sarah Palin running for anything in 2012. I seriously would rather bet on seeing her host a newsmagazine show on FOX News to keep her in the mix of the current affairs but in a moderating role so that she ask the questions , and not the other way around. In that sense the Republican Party can get some juice out of her popularity without causing any more dents to the brand. But again, this is Sarah Palin we are talking about here. On the flipside, you have to give Sarah Palin credit for choosing the eve of the July 4th weekend to make this announcement. Even more convenient, is the same time that Michael Jackson’s death is taken over every news network and Iran protest, North Korea threats and Honduras military crisis are all flying under the radar. According to reports, Palin said too much time and too many taxpayer dollars were going toward fighting ethics investigations and that the mainstream media were continuing with unfair attacks on her and her family. I hate to call that bogus but the last time I checked, the FBI said they had no interest investigating Palin. Well, those are reasonable grounds to quit a job in Wal-Mart or Hobby Lobby, but not when you signed up for the ultimate media buzzing gig and ego driven job as governor of state. This is going to be hard to spin, but you can bet that some wise guy is preparing a PR campaign to clean this mess up.
For the record, Sarah Palin is not going anywhere.
