Trying To Understand Palin

Friday afternoon when I turned on the news to see what was going on in the world, I found out that there really was some big news breaking. There was Governor Sarah Palin announcing that she would not seek re-election as Governor of Alaska. My very first reaction to this news was just a little bit of excitement. I figured that this meant that for sure she was going to be running for President in 2012. I thought, hey, that's great, she's not going to be one of those that spends two years on the campaign trail while they're supposed to be doing another job, that's great! But she wasn't done. She went on to say that later this month she will be resigning as Governor of Alaska. Now, what to make of this? Honestly, at that moment, I just didn't know. I thought a lot about it. I wondered a lot of things. Certainly she has no duty to run for a second term, but, I wondered, doesn't she have a duty to complete the term that she was elected to? I had some serious thinking to do, and I needed to review what Governor Palin herself had said in her announcement. I did that, and I thought about it. I discussed it some over at the TalkWisdom blog, and Saturday morning I listened to "The Mark Levin Show" from Friday night. After all of this, I think I have some understanding of what is going on. At least based on the facts that are now before us.

It seems that we must understand that Governor Palin had some very specific things that she wished to accomplish as Governor of Alaska, many of which have been accomplished, and some of which she has been able to lay the groundwork for. Further, ever since John McCain asked her to be his running mate in last years Presidential election, she has been plagued with ethics charges, all of which have been totally false, but have still greatly impeded her ability to be a Governor. She said herself that there have been 15 ethics complaints against her since the announcement of her candidacy for Vice President, all of which have been dropped because they lacked any merit. Yet she and her staff have had to spend vast quantities of time addressing these false charges, not to mention a great deal of money that she had to spend on them. So, resigning now really is the best thing for the State of Alaska, because, even though she has been an excellent and effective Governor, all of these partisan attacks from the Democrats have mired the Governors office, and by stepping aside she can allow the business of the State to get underway once again. And besides, she is handing the job off to her Lt. Governor, who has worked side by side with her so far, and is totally on board with what she has been doing and trying to get done.

Furthermore, we have to consider the fact that Alaska is a long way from the rest of the Country. Now don't get me wrong, it's a wonderful State, I've been there once, and I've studied the State some, and I love Alaska, and would dearly love to go back there someday. Alaska is also a very important State for many reasons, and I don't wish to downplay or degrade the wonderful State in any way, or in any measure, but the fact remains that it is physically far away from the lower 48 (as we are all called up there). Besides being physically far way, Alaska and Alaska politics are far away from the minds of many of the American people. If Sarah Palin wants to have any chance of being elected President in 2012, she has to be on the minds of the people in the lower 48 States, and she can't do this effectively from the office of the Governor of the State of Alaska, and if she tried to, it wouldn't be right or fair to the people of the great State of Alaska, because they deserve more than a part time Governor, and Governor Palin understands this.

Sarah Palin stated that she intends to campaign for and support likeminded politicians anywhere that she finds them, and that that, to me anyway, implies that she intends to be making the rounds in our Nation, speaking at rallies, and being on the campaign trail for others. This would also be an important step if she does indeed intend to run for President. Not only would doing this keep her forefront in the minds of the American people, it would also build her a big network, and a lot of support, and a very solid base from which to launch a Presidential bid, if that is in fact her intention.

So, while I struggled with this announcement when it first came out, and while it really gave me pause, upon reflection, I have to say, it looks like it may be a very good thing. It would appear that far from declaring her Political career to be over, Sarah Palin may have just kicked it into high gear. What's certain is that this announcement doesn't put her out of the running in any measure, it's what she does over the next year or so that will tell the tale, and I for one am looking on with great anticipation.