There is no political explanation that could explain this move since any future run for political office would be met with skepticism that she would stay and see the job through. As Allahpundit and Jim Geraghty speculate, this is the end of talk of her running for president in 2012.
With higher office ambitions off the table, we could perhaps simply take her word for it - that this is what she believes would be better for Alaska and her family. The new governor won't be a lame duck and her family can get out of the spotlight.
The Anchoress speculates that there is some health-related reason.
Color me unmoved by the thought of a Palinless political future. While I was very excited about her when McCain chose her and after her convention speech, she left me disappointed during the rest of the campaign. She couldn't seem to move beyond clichés in both her speeches and debate appearances. And no matter how supporters tried to spin it, her interviews with Charlie Gibson and Katie Couric were disappointing. That is why I am totally in agreement with Jonah Goldberg's timely essay today advising Palin to stay home and do her homework. He is so right that she couldn't build a successful political career complaining about unfair media coverage. Yes, the media has been awful about her and her family in a manner that is totally shameful and anyone can understand her not wanting to put her family through more of that. But she must have suspected that would happen when she accepted the nomination knowing that her teenage daughter was pregnant. But Goldberg hits the nail on the head to advise her to stick to learning more about policy instead of taking the bait on media hits on her and her family.
For starters, every time I see you on TV, you’re whining about unfair press coverage. Don’t get me wrong: Much of it is unfair, and some of it deserves a response. But it’s not presidential. It’s not even gubernatorial. You are constantly taking the bait, taking up the fights your biggest fans want you to take up.Perhaps we'll learn, maybe when she writes her memoirs, how she went from being such a seemingly ambitious and driven person into deciding to take a step back from politics. While she's still a hot commodity she can maybe make a living now giving speeches to conservative audiences. But I'd expect to see a lot less of her now. And that is a good thing.
But here’s the thing: Don’t listen to your biggest fans. Don’t alienate them either, but don’t think that because the Palin4Pres crowd cheers, you’re making progress. Politics is ultimately about persuasion, and you seem entirely uninterested in that, preferring instead to play the victim. Well, victims don’t get elected president. Ronald Reagan was a laughingstock for liberals and despised by the press. But he didn’t whine or take the bait.
As Goldberg writes, the future for the GOP belongs now to the wonkier politicians.
Yes, you can talk well about the stuff you know — oil drilling, energy, etc. — but beyond your comfort zone, you fall back on bumper-sticker language that sounds fine to the people who already agree with you but is useless in winning over skeptics.Exactly. I don't have much hope for the GOP prospects against Obama in 2012, but I would like someone who can explain clearly why Obama's economic policies have been a mistake and what he or she would do differently and why those are better choices for the country. Even if that candidate goes down, there will be a value to laying out those explanations for the country and setting the stage for 2016. I don't know if any of those guys that Goldberg mentions are the ones who can do that, but I do have more faith in their ability to speak in arguments rather than platitudes. I didn't have that faith for Sarah Palin. I'm deeply sorry that she and her family have undergone this battering in the public eye, but I'm not going to miss her. And I'm certainly not going to miss all the ugly Palin jokes on late night TV and the internet. This has not been a pretty chapter in the annals of American politics. I can't help wondering what the contrafactual path would have been for Palin if McCain hadn't picked her and she'd still been that promising-sounding governor that conservative writers, but no one else, were beginning to take notice of. Unfortunately, we can't put that toothpaste back in the tube.
President Bush had the same problem you do, which is why there’s a hunger for Republicans who can effectively articulate and sell our policies and philosophy. That’s why the wonks have the upper hand. Mitt Romney, Indiana governor Mitch Daniels, Louisiana governor Bobby Jindal, and other hands-on types are what the party wants and, frankly, needs.
So, farewell, Sarah and best of luck to you and your family in the new path you've chosen.
15 comments:
All the analysts and wonks are missing something here, as they speculate on her career being over. People are sick to death of career POLITICIANS! Republican or Democrat. Now they will see that Sarah Palin ISN’T one of them anymore. Fed up people WANT someone to rally around now...she is very very popular and speaks to so many things many Americans believe. Something else will evolve out of this, concurrent with the tea party movement and my money is on Palin to be the spearhead.
A very interesting development.
I've always admired Palin for being an unconventional politician. This seems to me to be a 'liberation' for her, opening new possibilities that were not there as long as she held the office. This may or may not work out for her and the nation.
Palin had met most of the goals she had set for herself as gov. already. And lately the lib/media feeding frenzy had been diminishing her effectiveness and costing the state money/resources. Given these, I can't hold her leaving the office early against her.
I have a feeling we won't have much chance to miss her though. If we take her at her word in her resignation speech, she'll be pretty active promoting candidates and causes in the lower 48 in 2010. I think she could be very effective in that role. Also, she may now have the chance to "bone up" on a wider range of national issues that the Alaskan governorship had nothing to do with.
I choose to be optimistic.
Maybe I am not following this closely enough but I didn'e see Palin complaining to much about the attacks.
I agree with Catherine.
It's surprising how many conservative commentators and high profile bloggers don't get it.
This was a GREAT MOVE by Palin! Is there something she's left undone as Governor? Do you really question her toughness?
The question the analysts should be asking is: Does her resignation best serve the interests of her constituents?
Seriously, the more I'm reading and watching this afternoon, the more I'm convinced. She is DONE with the asshats of both parties. She has always been clear that she wasn't part of the D.C. machine and boy, she's made MANY people very happy today, for all the right reasons.
It's clean up time in Washington, and Sarah just put them all on notice....just watch the squirming and hyperventing on MSMBC and CNN.
People want a candidate like her...they are desperate for it.
Watch the tea parties tomorrow. Betcha see some Palin posters!
I wonder... She may not play his level of politics, but I would compare her to Grover Cleveland (even if he was a Democrat). Honest, willing to fight perceived problems even against the powerful of his "own" party, and after losing re-election managed to come back and win.
Should she manage to be seen as an asset for races in the other States, and perhaps get some foreign-policy education, I would not be surprised to see her in the Federal Senate or higher.
And that "deer in the headlights" thing - LOL. Even the editors at the Anchorage Daily, no political friends, would not try that! Yes, that is how she appeared during the national run - but given her record in the rough-and-tumble (even downright nasty) of Alaskan politics, I suspect she was trying not to do something contrary to McCain. Which was difficult since I at least never quite understood what he was for or against in practice as contrasted with rhetoric.
Conceeding the 2012 elections is exactly the type of loser thinking we don't need Betsy. Why bother running anyone or complaining about Obama's actions then? Just sit quiet until his two terms are up.
Palin was campaigning under McCain's and the RNC's rules that's why she came off the way she did. Having her on the ticket though energized McCain's campaign and brought in votes. The only negative she brought was the entrenched GOP idiots who thought of her and treated her as badly as the democrats.
What we don't need is someone who's a policy wonk candidate. We need someone with charisma also. No matter who the candidate is they will be demonized and portrayed as stupid, be it Palin or Romney it won't matter.
It still amazes me how many "republican/conservatives" still don't get that Palin was a good thing for the party.
Bobby Jindal?
Did Jonah even see or hear Jindal's unbelivably horrible State of the Union response? I was so embarassed and outraged when Jindal took the opportunity of a political lifetime and crashed and burned. He'll be disposed of by the Democrats, press, and evetually by Jonah and this blogs authoress with an "I told you so attitude later."
And you think Palin folded under the lights? What you smokin' there?
"her interviews with Charlie Gibson and Katie Couric were disappointing"
If those two interviewed Mother Teresa and wanted to make her look bad they could do that too. Palin's mistake (or more likely the mistake of the McCain people) was to sit her down with Gibson and Couric in the first place. Do like Reagan did and speak directly to the people.
I suspect that this just might be the case of her deciding to run and then also deciding that running for president and still holding elective office is inconsistent with the demands of the former and the requirements of the latter.
I've always been irritated at those aspiring for higher office who just simply ignore their current reponsibilities and use their elective office as a money collection station and a place to take naps. Basically we are subsidizing someone else's political march through the system and getting very little in return.
Locomotive Breath & Pat Patterson,
Respectively:
"Do like Reagan did and speak directly to the people."
"I've always been irritated at those aspiring for higher office who just simply ignore their current responsibilities and use their elective office as a money collection station and a place to take naps. Basically we are subsidizing someone else's political march through the system and getting very little in return."
Those insightful comments leave me with little else to say other than I'm in complete agreement. I've always felt that the mass media is a dishonest filter and that elected officials should resign or otherwise vacate their current posts before launching off on a new ambition.
Oh yeah, I almost forgot: TERM LIMITS!
Wow, Betsy. It seems most of your regular commenters are disagreeing with you on this one. How healthy!! Love your blog.
Happy Independence Day!
Ms. Wilkinson's comments put a big smile on my face! Just what I have been thinking (and hoping). Career politicians on both sides have betrayed the American people and our current crew in Washington is nothing short of appalling. Give me a fresh voice who is honest with core values with some common sense - I don't need credentials.
This is more sheer brilliance from Sarah Palin.
Insulted for being "a flake" by the liberal media, she proves her strength and self confidence by handing her state over to the Lt Governor (a Deafeatocrat!).
Derided as uneducated and anti-intellectual, Sarah cleverly picked an excellent and religious ghost-writer (Lynn Vincent) to write her book and give voice to her thoughts.
Hounded by bogus and expensive "ethics" charges, Sarah cleverly avoids them all and secures a fresh political future that is as wide and boundless as her ambition.
Sarah Palin is a fox in more ways than one.
The problem with most political pundits is that they cannot distinguish the difference between republicans and conservatives. Sarah Palin appeals to conservatives. As has been said before, there is not a dime's worth of difference between republicans and democrats.
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