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So following your logic then...after she is elected president she should then quit when the left comes after her hammer and tong?

Nice try, but that's not my logic you're using. She didn't resign because she had opponents coming after her. She's always had that, and has had it worse in the years following her resignation than she did before. Didn’t stop her from mounting a devastating campaign to get conservatives elected in 2010, and it utterly failed to silence her or drive her into obscurity, which was the stated objective of her opposition. So that's a non-sequitur.

Here's an analogy that I think is closer to my original logic. A field commander is pinned down under enemy fire. He has dozens of men, their futures, and the futures of their families back home, all relying on his command effectiveness. What does he do? Stand up and shout "charge the barricades?" I hope not. That would only lead to an unnecessary slaughter and unspeakable sorrow, and for no good reason.

My hope would be that he recognizes he needs to change the equation in some fundamental way so he can keep his men alive for a later, more effective attack. My hope would be that he invokes a strategic retreat, so he can regroup and solve the problem without loss of either life or advantage.

Palin didn’t resign over opposition. She went up against some of the toughest political opposition you can imagine. It was those d@m lawyers (I am one) that created her unsolvable problem. I’ve looked at the scenario she faced, and I haven’t yet either seen or had anyone else explain to me a way she could have resolved it without resigning.

Indeed, had she just “toughed it out,” today she would not only be financially ruined despite being morally compromised for leeching off the public trough as an unproductive figurehead, but she would also be rightfully chargeable as having violated her oath of office, for failing to step aside when she became unable to perform her duties to the best of her ability.

Again, I’m going to assume you are a reasonable person. If you are pinned down under enemy fire, with no way of escape other that strategic retreat, what would you honestly do, if it’s you and the people you care about that are at risk? Because you’ll never convince me a thoughtful person like yourself would willfully destroy those you led, those who trusted you to keep your word, just so you could have the pride to say, “I toughed it out.” You are not an idiot, and neither is Palin.

And if you think my analogy is inapplicable to the office of President, think again. Do you know why George Washington was able to face down the Western world’s then mightiest military power, with a rag-tag operation of farmers, tradesmen, and other ordinary people? Strategic retreat. President George Washington saved this country from British Tyranny by calculated use of strategic retreat, hitting when he could, running when he had to. Without it, his weak and tiny force would never have survived the first serious engagements, the American Revolution would have failed, and you and I would not even be having this conversation. If it’s good enough for him, it’s good enough for Palin.

Your serve.