I view FR not as a cheerleading board, but a place to advance conservatism, and in the real-world, that largely means getting conservatives elected to office. Governor Palin, with both her conservatism and in her willingness to lead some very critical charges in the last year, is the person I most want to get into office in 2012.
But that requires that a) Palin wants to run (not clear, and out of my control), and that b) she gets elected (unsure, and incredibly slightly in my control). That second part will require winning over the electorate, who may very well be extremely wary of anyone without extensive executive experience, after the Obama disaster.
Some have asked me what kind of "shoring up" job do I have in mind? That's a fair question. Unfortunately, short-term assignments like plastic-man Romney's Salt Lake City Olympics gig don't happen very often - but if something like that were to turn up, that would be ideal.
I hear Palin may be getting involved with a "Planet Earth" style show on Alaska. (I'm going to ignore the innuendo that it's some reality-based mess.) If she is involved as a hands-on executive producer, that helps fit the bill: getting a show up off the ground, and getting it to be a ratings success is no small accomplishment. And it just might also fit the bill from a timing perspective.
Another opportunity: in this economic environment, I'm willing to bet that there are charities in need of a good solid board member. Showing an increase of fundraising, combined with effective guidance on how to better run operations would also help round out her resume. Besides, the more important thing here is that she'd be doing God's work, and in the case of special-needs kids charities, it would be something obviously she's already involved with.
Another opportunity: being an active board-member of a company closely related to, but not directly involved with the energy sector. She can't be working directly with an energy company, due to an appearance of a conflict of interest, but someone who's a heavy consumer of energy (chemical sector?) would be good.
Are these things enough? I don't know. But they help - and we'll need all the help we can get to win in 2012. It won't be an easy election, no matter how nasty Zero is. Obama has an incredibly effective political ground operation (evil as it is), and besides, Palin would first have to win the GOP nomination.
Finally, just because someone's a messenger doesn't mean they're not on your team, so Don't Taze Me, Bros!
Nice specifics. Positive sells.