Palin’s Resignation

I haven’t a clue why she resigned, since Gov. Palin and I have never met. But, I think that I can discern some of her motivations for resigning.

First and foremost, I doubt that before Sen. McCain asked her to be his running mate, Gov. Palin ever had given a moment’s serious thought to running for either POTUS or VPOTUS.  The campaign opened up new vistas for Gov. Palin. It was obvious that she enjoyed public speaking and did an excellent job of it. However, the character assassination leveled at her in the closing days of the campaign as well as the attacks upon her family had to be unpleasant.  If Sen. Biden would have been treated as harshly as Gov. Palin, she would have not grounds to complain.  But, he was given a pass and she was ridiculed far worse than Dan Quayle was with as little justification. So the experience of running for national office was a mixed bag for her.

Second, when she came back home to Alaska the collegiality that she had enjoyed with the Democrats in the Alaska Legislature was gone. Instead of working together to solve the state’s issues and problems, the mood changed.  The Democrats were out to frustrate her and make her pay for attacking President Obama. Further, the slough of frivolous ethics complaints filed against her indicated a dark purpose–destroying her as a national political figure.

Three,  defending against  the ethics complaints became almost a full-time job and the legal fees incurred were her personal responsibility. Time had a piece the other day that suggested that the legal fees incurred were over $500,000. Had she remained in office, the bill might have doubled or tripled. Public service should not mean bankruptcy.

Four, the attacks on her family continued and became more severe. The tacky, nasty attempt at humor by David Letterman about her fourteen year old daughter was disgusting.  It must have pained Gov. Palin greatly.  Sadly, David Letterman is still employed at CBS.

To use a military analogy, she was stuck holding a position in which the other side could lob of a round every now and then to keep her occupied and keep her from taking the offensive.  Staying in a purely defensive position while accomplishing nothing is insane.  Gov. Palin did the sensible thing and decided to change the rules of engagement.

My guess is that Gov. Palin is resigning to get out of an untenable position, knowing full well that remaining in office will accomplish nothing for the people of Alaska and would only subject her family to more harm and more expense.

Once she is out of office, the initiative will pass to her. She will be able to pick her times and places to fight.

If she writes a book, it will be a best seller for sure.  I suspect that she will have a lot of interesting things to say about the McCain campaign and its operatives, many of whom will be seeking employment with Gov. Romney or other potential candidates.

If she goes on either television or talk radio, she will attract a huge audience and well articulate her positions.

If she goes on a speaking tour to raise money for Republican candidates, she will pack the house wherever she speaks. Gov. Palin already has a Political Action Committee up and running, so raising money will be no problem for her.  If I were a Democratic Member of Congress elected in a swing district in 2008, I would not look forward to an appearance by Gov. Palin in my district, particularly if she is going to be there to help raise money for my opponent.

Since she is familiar with Twitter and Facebook, look for her to exploit these instruments of modern communications along with YouTube to their fullest.  She will be able to get her message across however she chooses to convey it.

All the blather about her leaving office early will matter not a wit a few years down the road. Since she is in her mid-forties, she will be a player on the national scene for the 2012, 2016, 2020 and 2024 elections if she wants to be. As I said before, the initiative has passed to her.  She is now free to fight back, picking her issues and the times and places to strike.

My guess is that in due course,  many Democrats will rue the decision to file all of those meaningless, but expensive, ethics complaints up there in Alaska.