Dan

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July 6, 2009

Without Everyone’s Run-for-President Obsession, Palin’s Move Makes Perfect Sense

Sarah Palin’s decision to resign as governor of Alaska is confusing if her objective is to ultimately become president of the United States. But she has never declared that to be her objective. Political junkies assume that’s her objective, so the conventional analysis of Palin’s decision is that she has “hurt her future” or has ended her national political career.

But if you don’t assume Palin’s objective is to one day become president, her decision makes all the sense in the world – for her, for her family, for Alaska and for conservatives looking for someone to give voice to their priorities.

First let’s consider Alaska. Palin has been a very effective governor – in terms of retraining spending, fighting corruption and shepherding the much-discussed natural gas pipeline deal. That’s why she was tapped as John McCain’s running mate. But in the aftermath of the 2008 presidential race, Palin is finding she can’t go back to being who she was. She is the target of constant frivolous ethics complaints, which take time and money to defend. She is the target of vicious media smears, which make it hard for her to talk about policy even though she does so exceedingly well.

And every time she leaves the state, she catches heat back home and has to defend her motives on the national level.

It may be true that she’s quitting her job without finishing it, but it’s not hard to see why she believes that Lt. Gov. Sean Parnell at this point can more effectively govern Alaska simply because he doesn’t have to deal with everything that goes along with being Sarah Palin. That’s what Palin meant with Friday’s analogy to a basketball point guard who attracts the attention of the defense and then passes the ball to a more open player who can shoot and score.

The mainstream media can make no sense of this. The Associated Press hilariously claimed Palin resigned “without explaining why she plans to step down.” She explained it clear as day, but the explanation didn’t fit the AP’s cynical preconceived notions of why politicians do things, so it was as if they hadn’t heard an explanation at all.

Now consider her family, and the rules that pundits and political strategists expected them to accept. If a late-night comedian attacked one of Palin’s daughters, Palin was wrong to fire back because it was “not presidential.” In the Huffington Post on Friday, “humor writer” Erik Sean Nelson mocked Palin’s infant son Trig, who has Down Syndrome. Much of the left hates Palin so much that this sort of thing has become acceptable. (HuffPo pulled the piece, but not before others screen-captured it for the sake of revolting posterity.)

There is no other political figure whose children are considered fair game for attacks like this, and the lame notion that Palin asked for it by bringing them on stage at the Republican National Convention defies credulity.

Yet in spite of all the attacks, Palin has a huge and devoted following, and can draw huge crowds anywhere she goes. A candidate she chooses to support can raise huge money. A cause she chooses to get behind can thrive.

Palin can travel, speak, write, raise money for her Political Action Committee and contribute to candidates she wants to support. She will be her own boss, saying exactly what she wants and pursuing her own agenda.

“But how will she become president?” you ask.

President? Are you kidding? The gig I just described sounds a hell of a lot better than being president.

It’s entirely possible Palin would love to be president and has decided to try a very unconventional route to get there. But if freedom is what she’s after, she’d be better off disavowing the whole idea. If nothing else, it would put a stop to all the unsolicited advice she gets on how to act, and all the questioning of her perfectly understandable choices.

Why does she complain about the media being unfair to her? Because they are. Why does she get in a pissing match with David Letterman? Because he’s a jerk. Why doesn’t she “go away for awhile and study the issues”? Because she doesn’t feel like it. What would you say if someone told you to do that? You’d probably punch them in the nose.

Sarah Palin does things her way, according to her principles, in the service of her priorities.

If all this is “not presidential” or contrary to what the expert strategists recommend, maybe Palin doesn’t care. Maybe Palin would run if nominated and serve if elected, but maybe her soul is too high a price for her to pay.

There are those who have the desire to achieve, but understand that becoming a whore to do it is no achievement at all. Palin is one of them. And if she ever does make her way to Washington, she won’t find many others like that, which could be one reason she might not care about getting there as much as everyone thinks she’s supposed to – and continues to confound the establishment by ignoring the rules it wants to impose on her.

© 2009 North Star Writers Group. May not be republished without permission.

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