Diane Sawyer is a snake in the grass. And fingernails on a chalkboard. Is ANYONE in media as condescending and snaky as she? She breathes it: inhale, exhale, repeat ….
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The more I’ve re-listened/re-read Palin from Friday, the more clearly I see this:
She will attempt to become a national voice and a national leader who advocates conservative principles(and naturally opposes Barack Obama’s lack of conservative principles).
If she catches on as a national voice and national leader: she will run for President - maybe in 2012, maybe later. If she doesn’t catch on as a national voice and national leader, then “if I die, I die. So be it.”
If she doesn’t catch on, then she was never meant to catch on, and was never going to win the Presidency anyway. From her strategic perspective: if she doesn’t catch on as a national voice, she has lost nothing. In other words, in such circumstance: she could have stayed Governor, and made a Presidential run, yet it would have failed. If she is ever going to have a legit chance at POTUS, then she will catch on as a national voice, and her opportunity to speak out and to act in unconstrained fashion will strengthen her legit chance to win the Presidency.
If she never catches on: she has lost nothing, she is happier, her family is wealthier, Alaska is better off than it would have been if she had stayed on as a lame duck, Alaska Repubs are better off b/c the Repub. Lt. Gov. now has a better shot at being elected Gov.
Strategically, Palin has made a bold and audacious move which is worthy of Gen. Stonewall Jackson or Gen. George S. Patton. She has picked up her army, and is marching it hard towards the opposite end of the Shenandoah Valley. Sarah Palin is an American original. If she didn’t exist we would wish to invent her. She is one of the few truly heroic figures - whom children can look up to - in existence today.
The strategic risk, which must exist in order for Palin’s strategic choice to be bold, is that she is teaching the left and the critics and the legal terrorists that they can defeat a Repub if they bring enough pressure (financial, personal, legal, verbal assault upon a candidate’s children, governing assault [gridlock] upon a candidate’s constituency) to bear upon that candidate and upon his or her loved ones. This is a dangerous precedent to set. The danger of it - the possibility that Palin’s choice will do long term harm to Republicans - is part of what makes Palin’s choice either bold, or a selfish strategic miscalculation.
In the end, I like her choice. Her situation was unusual. I would not have sacrificed my family's financial security for the possibility (possibility, only) of helping future Repub candidates defy critics and legal terrorists.
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Last note: it is said - including by me - that Palin has been attacked via dishonorable legal actions which have imposed unfair legal/financial burden upon her. All true.
However, the very notoriety which spawned the dishonorable legal actions also spawns opportunity for Palin to make her book deal and to give lucrative speeches. Even after paying her legal bills, she and her family will emerge in significantly better financial condition than they otherwise would have. And I already see left persons (both bloggers, and the wealthy Diane Sawyer) bemoaning Sarah Palin’s pending acquisition of minor wealth. Hilarious. I can’t think of any left side moaning and carping which I have more enjoyed.
Anyway, Sarah Palin truly found herself in unusual circumstances. She could not take full advantage without making her audacious and worthy strategic move. Looking at everything - from her responsibility to Alaska, to her responsibility to her family, to her Golden Rule responsibility to Repubs: the foolish strategic move would have been to maintain status quo as Governor.
Sarah and Todd have said this choice has been under consideration for some weeks. Was this really a flighty and knee jerk decision? Or, was Sarah Palin taking counsel from Todd, and considering the strategic landscape for some weeks, and did she actually have a clearer strategic vision than her myriad critics now do? Is she more knee jerk and reactionary, or more courageous, or simply more strategically clear eyed? Is she, in actuality, smarter than her critics?
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Bro 64 opines, in email which partly inspired me to write this post:
The thing that kills me about the media coverage of Palin's resignation is that everyone is automatically assuming her ambition is to run for President in 2012, and talking about how this is a horrible strategic decision for her future in electoral politics. Pile on, pile on, pile on.
It also drives me nuts that all the Eastist, leftist media talk about how they could not understand her resignation speech, and that they "just don't get" the basketball reference. To me, her speech was perfectly clear. Is it possible that she resigned for exactly the reasons she gave in her speech? That she is spending 80% of her time on legal defense and public relations issues, and because she understands she has become such a polarizing figure that she is no longer able to effectively serve? It is a rare case when this happens in electoral politics, but when it does, is it not the most dedicated response to resign and move on, so someone else may govern more effectively? Is this so hard to comprehend, a decision to sacrifice?
Very few have stopped to ponder that her ambition may have absolutely nothing to do with any future Presidential run. In fact, her ambition may have nothing to do with electoral politics at all. Maybe her ambition is to just be a mom. Maybe it is to be a public speaker and movement leader, or to somehow be involved in tv or radio. Very few have considered her decision in this light, and thus the Palin Derangement Syndrome continues.
I am not one who believes she is perfect. I do understand that is she were to run for President, she has some substantive issues that need to be addressed. However, she is one of the most energizing, refreshing, and clear spoken politicians to come along in my lifetime, and if you can accept her for what she is, it is easy to be a huge fan.
Update: Originally composed this as a comment at neo-neocon's. Courtesy of her commenter, turfmann: Time Magazine Interview with Sarah Palin.
neo commenter Ecgbright:
[Palin's] understanding of the environment in which she will operate is, I think, immeasurably more sophisticated than that of conventional political analysts because she can see what their now almost fossilized assumptions conceal from them.If that is true, events will be exciting. I'm hoping for that.
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