Over this July 4th weekend, all politico’s have been asking the same question: What is going on with Sarah Palin??
Having stated that she will not run for gubernatorial re-election, Palin proceeded to drop a bombshell in the form of her resignation – citing reasons of family obligation and a desire to stop media inquiry.
While many believe this is just a political strategy to run for the Senate, or even President, common sense would say otherwise…
A few interesting points to make:
1) Announcements made on a late Friday during a holiday weekend are meant to be forgotten – this is a widely known ploy by politicians if they have something to hide. While Palin will of course get media attention nonetheless due to her inexplicable stardom, she wanted this event to receive as little media attention as possible.
In other words: Either Palin is hiding something or she just happened to make this decision right before the perfect time to make her announcement.
2) Her press conference was so prematurely put together that the local press barely made it on time! Furthermore, her speech was hastily written, and the Lieutenant Governor was just as shocked as anyone to hear the news.
In other words: Palin’s press conference was put together at the spur of the moment, thus begging the question of whether her actual decision was just as hasty. If so, than her resignation was a reaction to something we do not yet know.
3) While Palin may continue to have high approval ratings in Alaska, and possibly even have a chance at the Alaska Senate race if she so chooses, this move (just like McCain’s move to “suspend” his campaign) is guaranteed to lower her approval nationally (to a large margin), and at least somewhat in her home-state. American’s don’t like quitters. While Palin may have a good reason to quit, so-far unbeknownst to the public, she still quit. Period. And her reasons thus far have been less than satisfactory, let alone understandable.
In other words: Palin will have a much more difficult time winning a Senate seat as a quitter than after having finished her term. Furthermore, her national approval ratings will plummet, giving much fodder to Republican primary candidates (like Mitt Romney) who want to win just as bad and won’t pull any punches if she even thought about running for President.
4) If you really pay attention, even Republican’s/Fox News are having difficulty justifying Palin’s move. While they all “wish her well”, very few to none are claiming this as a wise political move. Even Karl Rove criticized her strategy!
In other words: Nobody, not even the Republican’s, know what is going on. Nor do any strategists see this as a smart move for seeking a new office. Consequently, while playing nice, Palin’s “maverick” image is beginning to wear on the GOP’s patience and they’re showing their cards – if this is a move to run for President, be prepared to be skewered by your own party.
While many are offering their own ideas regarding Palin’s actual motivation (one of the more interesting and logical involves a career at Fox News), very few of them make much sense. In my opinion, this either involves a currently unknown scandal, or she actually is serious about staying out of politics.
Talking to some close supporters, Palin said:
“she is out of politics, period. She is fed up with politics. She doesn’t like her life. She feels that she needs to raise her family. She’s sick of the commute from Wasilla to the capital. And she really does not want to run for higher office, that this is not a case where she is stepping down in order to clear the way for a presidential run.”
In the end though, Palin will NOT run for President. And if she does, she’ll lose.
However, the real question is not whether she will run for President, but why she really resigned. Nonetheless, I am more than happy to wish Mrs. Palin good riddance and never see her in the media spotlight again.
