Posted on 10/23/2010 11:47:47 PM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet
Sarah Palin’s return to the spotlight with her successful book tour, her contract with and frequent appearances on the Fox News Channel, and her speech at the National Tea Party Convention have sparked a new flurry of speculation about her presidential ambitions and prospects.
Tea Party conservatives love Palin. But according to a Washington Post/ABC News poll, 70 percent of Americans believe she isn’t qualified to be the President of the United States. The left incessantly ridicules her. And members of the Republican establishment make comments that reveal their doubts about her. Are her prospects really as bad as some would lead you to believe? Perhaps not!
As for opinion polls, considering how quickly President Obama’s approval ratings have dropped in the year since he took office, Palin’s current poll numbers are no indication of what they will be in 2011 or 2012. Her overall approval rating already has risen from the low thirties after the 2008 election to the mid-forties since her autobiography, Sarah Palin: Going Rogue, went on sale, bringing her close to President Obama's. With her increased exposure on Fox and appearances around the country, they’ll continue to improve.
The activist left, who sees Palin as a threat, continues to ridicule and demean her. They believe, based on their past successes with other conservatives, that they can marginalize her with personal attacks. White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs even got into the act when he mocked her during a daily press briefing for writing a note on her palm at the Tea Party Convention.
The left’s ridicule of Palin and some Republicans' own doubts about her are reasons why even members of her own party believe she can never be a serious presidential candidate. Asked if he thought Palin was qualified to be president on ABC's This Week last Sunday, former Vice President Dick Cheney avoided the question, responding that he hadn’t made up his mind which candidate he would support. Many interpreted this response as a not-so-subtle indication that Cheney didn’t think she was qualified.
Conservative political commentator and columnist Andrea Tantaros believes Palin should become the next Oprah Winfrey. Tantaros recently wrote; “Though many believe she's set her sights on the White House in 2012, Palin should get this through her head now: She would be far more influential as a talk-show host than she would be as a presidential candidate, and she should start planning her career trajectory accordingly.”
Obviously, most people at this time, including many Republicans, either don’t take Palin seriously, don't believe she's qualified, or believe she couldn't be elected president. For just about any other politician, that would be that, but not for Palin. She's undeterred by the left's attacks, she believes she's more qualified for the job than Barack Obama was, and she is deeply committed to the commonsense conservatism she champions.
The Sarah Palin who spoke to the Tea Party Convention in Nashville, Tennessee, and who Chris Wallace interviewed on Fox News Sunday wasn’t the Palin we saw Katie Couric and Charlie Gibson interview in 2008. She’s come back stronger, sharper, and more focused.
As David Broder, in his February 11 column in the Washington Post, “Palin’s Perfect Pitch Populism,” wrote; “The snows that obliterated Washington in the past week interfered with many scheduled meetings, but they did not prevent the delivery of one important political message: Take Sarah Palin seriously.”
Sarah Palin has not yet said that she intends to run for president; no astute politician reveals her intentions this early, but there’s little doubt she has her eyes on the White House. As she told Wallace when he asker about running for president; “I would if I believe that is the right thing to do for our country and for the Palin family. Certainly, I would do so.”
Palin’s decision will come sometime after the 2010 mid-term elections--after she has campaigned around the country for conservative Republican candidates and collected IOUs she can call in when she runs for president. In the mean time she will hone her message on the stump and on Fox, raise money for her political action committee, and keep her options open.
No one knows what the political environment will be in 2012. Republicans recapturing control of the House and Senate, if they do, could be the best thing that could happen to Barack Obama, as it was when that happened to President Bill Clinton. It could force Obama to move toward the center and become a less controversial president, making him more likely to win reelection. If Obama’s approval ratings are high and it appears he’s likely to win a second term, Palin can readjust her sights on 2016.
If, however, Obama looks vulnerable, as he does now, and Palin announces her candidacy for 2012, no one should underestimate her chances. As Dick Morris recently observed, "In a candidate you can't replace courage, integrity, guts, and confidence--and she has those in abundance."
If rank-and-file conservatives still have the enthusiasm for her they do now, she could certainly win the nomination. She’ll be able to raise millions from small contributors, like Obama did in 2008. She’ll attract conservative Tea-Party goers to the polls in the primaries and caucuses--the people likely to be most influential in choosing the Republican nominee. And she will perform well in the debates.
Should she win the Republican nomination, once it becomes a one man, one woman race, like all presidential elections, it will take on a dynamic all its own. The state of the economy, the war with Islamist-Jihadists, Obama's record, and a host of other issues and how the candidates address them will determine how voters line up. There is a path for Sarah Palin to become the 45th President of the United States, if she navigates it effectively, and it’s not just wishful thinking.
Anyone who questions Palin’s presidential ambition either isn’t paying attention or wants to discourage it. Anyone who doubts her prospects either underestimates her or doesn’t understand the mood of the country and the dynamics of presidential politics.
I think the chances are good depending on what gop do in congress, not what obama do as president imho. If gop can block every spending, chances are the economy will collapse imho. The state of the economy in US is such that its a musical chair. As long as money is printed and spent, it creates an illusion of everything is fine, when its not. If Gop in congress continues to spend like crazy, then I think 2012 will be a win for Obama
I’d vote for in a half-second!
I think this is something of a myth. I don't think Clinton won re-election because he moved to the center. He always posed as a centrist.
Clinton won because times seemed peaceful at home, and the money was rolling in everywhere you looked. People don't want to change drivers when the gravy train is rolling.
If the economy turns around before 2012, Obama wins re-election. ESPECIALLY if his opponent is Palin. If the economy slogs on like it is now, he loses.
Then again, maybe the Obama-Reid-Pelosi axis was just more than people could stomach in one term. But if jobs and growth come back, people will re-elect him.
“If the economy turns around before 2012, Obama wins re-election. ESPECIALLY if his opponent is Palin.”
Is that you, Michael Savage?
He says that if Palin is the nominee, Obama will win all 50 states in a landslide...Well, that is pure BS, even though I know it might be tough for her to win. We do not know how much damage Obozo will have inflicted by 2012, or who the demowit nominee will be.
I would be more worried about there even being an election in 2012.
As for the economy, it will not improve as long as the Communist are in power.
At this point in Reagan's first term, we were in a bitter recession almost as bad as this one. A lot can happen. That said, I agree with you that Obama will not let things get better. I actually don't think he wants the job for 8 years. I think he got his big banana--Obamacare. Now he'll ride out lame duckness and maybe not even run again.
Now, what if it were Hillary vs. Palin?
Operation reverse chaos?
“I agree with you that Obama will not let things get better. I actually don’t think he wants the job for 8 years. I think he got his big banana—Obamacare. Now he’ll ride out lame duckness and maybe not even run again.”
You contradict yourself, wrong on many points, and all over the board.
You say he will win in a landslide if things get better, but
he does not want things to get better?
He did not really have a “landslide” the first time.
Now you say that he will not want the job. Do you think that the stupid healthcare was his only goal?
Obama wants to create the USSA. It takes more then healthcare for that.
You also make a comparison to Reagan.
Reagan was the most loved president of a lifetime. Obambie is the most hated president, ever.
You better just hope there will be a USA in 2012, and leave the prognosticating to others, haha.
Huckabee?
Did you see this? It came as an email - it’s been around before.
By Wayne Allyn Root, July 6th, 2010 - He went to Columbia at the same time as ‘supposedly’ barry did - and says no one knew him.
He has lots to say - read it at snopes.
True per snopes!
http://www.snopes.com/politics/soapbox/overwhelm.asp
How does she win? What about taking a page out of the OBAMA/Dem playbook. How about suing the colleges that OBAMA attended for his school records and his employment records, (as is being done in Alaska against Miller).
There is now precedence for it. There is the Miller case and the case against OBAMA’s opponent for the Senate seat.
And, OBAMA will have a hard time refusing to open them since Palin’s records have already been scoured when she was running as VP against the OBAMA team.
I can see a court authorizing it, but she would have to start the battle at least 18 months before the election so as to get through all the court challenges.
“True per snopes!”
I agree that he is out to destroy America, but not that he is so brilliant.
Nothing that I have seen, and the very little that we know about his past, shows any brilliance. In fact, it is quite the contrary.
Obama has more the mind of a criminal, and he is influenced and run by outside enemies of the USA.
I was going to include that - didn’t agree either. Con men aren’t brilliant. They need people to succeed. Brilliance makes it on it’s own. All by design to destroy our country that we knew BEFORE the election.
Anyone thinking this economy is going to turn around on his watch is whistling in the wind. Our 2010 election perhaps can stop/halt some of the madness. First thing, repeal ZeroCare.
“If gop can block every spending, chances are the economy will collapse imho. “
I agree. However, if Republicans are in control when things get worse, which they surely will between ‘10 and ‘12, we will be blamed, with much help by the media, for obstructing/blocking the ‘progress’ they’ll say Obama was making and it’s possible he will get re-elected.
Education and exposure cure vicious lies.
(Snarks from the same people who thought Obama was ready. Something to be mentioned often.)
There's plenty of other solid political talent out there who would serve us much better in the 2012 race.
Palin may appear unelectable today to many, but Obama is going to look far more unelectable in 2012. Really all Palin needs is a strategy to win the R nomination. I'd rather have the Tea Party behind me in 2012 than the mainstream R establishment.
Names please.
There are some, but let’s see if you can name them.
Who the h#($ is Andrea Tantaros?
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