I’ll admit to a wee bit of obsession on the Sarah Palin resignation story. Now that we’ve had a couple of days to think about it, what have we learned? Not much, I think. Let me see if I got this straight – her stated reason for resigning was that she wasn’t seeking re-election and didn’t want to be a lame duck governor. In her statement, she implied that lame duck governors just spend their time traveling on the taxpayer’s dime on trade missions (nice shot at Sanford there). I guess my reaction to that bit of illogic is still WTF? Couldn’t she just resist the urge and do the job that she was elected to do? Apparently that wasn’t one of the options. Her statement implied that Alaska would be better off since she’s had to spend all this time fighting ethics charges from meanie bloggers. Ummm…wha?
The reaction of the media and the political world has been pretty negative, but some members of the so-called elite punditry class are smoking something good. Mary Matalin calls her move “brilliant.” Bill Kristol thinks it’s a shrewd gamble because:
After all, she’s freeing herself from the duties of the governorship. Now she can do her book, give speeches, travel the country and the world, campaign for others, meet people, get more educated on the issues – and without being criticized for neglecting her duties in Alaska. I suppose she’ll take a hit for leaving the governorship early – but how much of one? She’s probably accomplished most of what she was going to get done as governor, and is leaving a sympatico lieutenant governor in charge.
And haven’t conservatives been lamenting the lack of a national leader? Well, now she’ll try to be that. She may not succeed. Everything rests on her talents, and on her performance. She’ll be under intense and hostile scrutiny, and she’ll have to perform well.
Is this what politics is to the GOP now? Just personality and no governing? How can you be a leader and a quitter? When the going gets tough, the tough retreat. It amazes me that Palin still has defenders in the GOP. She just proved that she’s not interested in the hard work of governing, which involves learning about issues and convincing others to implement your policy ideas. Actual governing is really hard work and she has proven that she doesn’t have the brains and guts necessary to do that. I guess that’s why the GOP has become the party of no – no ideas.
With all that we’ve learned about Sarah Palin since the election (since she won’t leave us alone), I’m actually kind of amazed at the McCain campaign. For one, McCain’s judgment looks even worse in hindsight than it did at the time. I shudder to think about McCain’s impulsiveness and the Iran situation, for example. I’m also amazed that the McCain campaign was able to keep her publicity-hogging personality somewhat under control during the campaign. I think they must have known early on what a mistake they had made with her and that’s why her media availability was so limited during the early part of her time with the campaign.
Personally, I think there must be a scandal brewing. I can’t imagine why else she would resign right now, other than to cash in while she can before a scandal breaks.