The Sarah Palin Enigma

If there’s one thing that can be said about Sarah Palin, it’s that nobody really knows why she suddenly announced her resignation as Governor of Alaska with a full 18 months left in her first term except for her. Some have said it’s based on her intent to focus on running for the 2012 presidential election, although that seems a little premature. Mitt Romney, for instance, stepped down as governor of Massachusetts in February of 2007 in preparation for his shot at the Presidency. Mike Huckabee stepped down as Governor of Arkansas around the same time. By contrast, the proper time for Sarah Palin to focus on her run for the Presidency would be early 2011, long after her term would have ended in Alaska.

There have been many attributions to the media as being Sarah Palin’s reason for resignation. Conservative faithful say that she was hounded by them, harassed long after she stepped from the presidential spotlight, and made the brunt of constant jokes about her family from liberals. That part is true enough. Even as she announced her withdrawal from Alaskan politics to begin some new, ambiguous journey, her detractors derided her with time-tested jokes about her family.

But people are still clearly confused about why she chose to leave office, except that we know she said she has been motivated by a “higher calling”. In her resignation speech, she said that she didn’t want to spend the last 18 months of her term as a “lame duck” governor, saying that some politicians have a tendency to “milk it”, and that she didn’t want to cost the taxpayers of Alaska unnecessary money and expenses. Not to overstate the obvious, but it doesn’t make any sense to say with nearly half of her term left in office, that she would be merely coasting along as an ineffective leader. Indeed, many conservatives in America widely regarded her position as being one that still gave her the kind of credibility and authority needed to speak to issues of an important nature. Indeed, after watching the press conference, one is left wondering whether this is a Sarah Palin moving on to bigger and better, or preparing to fade to black.

If it is the latter hope, then former George W. Bush strategist Karl Rove is perplexed by the move. Calling it “risky”, he said that stepping down from office takes away a platform for controlling the agenda and message.

“The media, if she wants to run for president, is going to be following her for the next 3½ years,” said Rove, who called the move unclear and therefore a potentially harmful strategy for a politician. “Effective strategies in politics are ones that are so clear and obvious that people can grasp. … It’s not clear what she’s doing and why.”

Worse than the uncertainty of the reasons for her decision, it gives her opponents the opportunity to call her a “quitter”. Mike Huckabee also said that her resignation won’t end the media hounding. If the perception is that she was “chased” out of office, it will hurt her credibility for being able to hold on to a higher office. Meanwhile Republican strategist Ed Rollins also agrees that resigning does not automatically mean she’s headed for a 2012 run for office. Citing other governors who have aims at the White House, he said that the “lame duck” excuse doesn’t fly in conservative circles, and will damage her career. “She didn’t finish the job.”

“The new (Alaska) governor, the legislature will move right beyond her,” Rollins asserted, “and I think, to a certain extent, she certainly will have a voice among conservatives, as a viable, political person who’s gonna help the Republican party, (but) I don’t think she can do it as effectively if you’re not a governor.”

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“Every step from here on out has to be one that has a strategy to it,” Rollins said. “This is tactical. She got up (Friday), went out, surprised the political world – which you shouldn’t do – surprised the media world – which you shouldn’t do – and at the end of the day, no one knows why. She’s gotta go answer all the questions and not run away from them: ‘Here’s why I did it, it was for my family, it was for this, and for that reason.’ But the idea, it’s speculation, ‘I’m gonna run for president, I can do it more effectively from outside,’ is not true.”

The fact is that when John McCain picked her for a running mate for 2008, she skyrocketed into the conservative spotlight, but has yet to earn the kind of accolades she’s received from her supporters. That she’s suffered undue scorn and hatred from her opponents, including attacks against her family, is certainly something that must have been difficult on her. The challenge then, is to be able to prove herself as someone able to rise above it all, and come out on top as a champion. Because the fact is that nobody respects a quitter.

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Fox News Liz Trotta with some strong words for Palin.