Posted on 07/09/2009 8:13:09 PM PDT by SeekAndFind
I haven't commented on Sarah Palin's resignation as Governor of Alaska since Friday afternoon, when I noted the story and said that her resignation "seems bizarre to me." Here are some additional thoughts on the subject.
I am, to begin with, an admirer of Governor Palin--the real Sarah Palin, not the creature of myth. Perhaps the most remarkable aspect of the Palin phenomenon is that the mythical version, a caricature of Palin as arch-conservative, especially on the social issues, and populist almost to the point of know-nothingism, has been embraced by many of her supporters as avidly as by her enemies.
But the caricature has little to do with Palin's actual record as a public servant. I don't doubt that she is, personally, a conservative, but her record in office has not been particularly conservative and her political career owes little or nothing to the social issues. She represents, rather, an older strand of Republicanism--the reformist, good-government variety.
Given that Palin is now viewed almost exclusively as symbol, it is not surprising that the least-remarked portion of her resignation speech was that in which she recounted her administration's achievements. But those accomplishments are, in fact, considerable:
Here's some of the things we've done:
We created a petroleum integrity office to oversee safe development. We held the line for Alaskans on Point Thomson - and finally for the first time in decades - they're drilling for oil and gas.
We have AGIA, the gasline project - a massive bi-partisan victory (the vote was 58 to 1!) - also succeeding as intended - protecting Alaskans as our clean natural gas will flow to energize us, and America, through a competitive, pro-private sector project. This is the largest private sector energy project, ever. This is energy independence.
And ACES - another bipartisan effort - is working as intended and industry is publicly acknowledging its success. Our new oil and gas "clear and equitable formula" is so Alaskans will no longer be taken advantage of. ACES incentivizes new exploration and development and jobs that were previously not going to happen with a monopolized North Slope oil basin.
We cleaned up previously accepted unethical actions; we ushered in bi-partisan Ethics Reform.
We also slowed the rate of government growth, we worked with the Legislature to save billions of dollars for the future, and I made no lobbyist friends with my hundreds of millions of dollars in budget vetoes... but living beyond our means today is irresponsible for tomorrow.
We took government out of the dairy business and put it back into private-sector hands - where it should be.
We provided unprecedented support for education initiatives, and with the right leadership, finally filled long-vacant public safety positions. We built a sub-Cabinet on Climate Change and took heat from Outside special interests for our biologically-sound wildlife management for abundance.
We broke ground on the new prison.
And we made common sense conservative choices to eliminate personal luxuries like the jet, the chef, the junkets... the entourage.
And the Lt. Governor and I said "no" to our pay raises.
A solid record of achievement in only 2 1/2 years? Absolutely. Red meat for populist conservatives? Not especially.
So I have high regard for Sarah Palin, the effective, good-government reformer. But that brings us to Palin's press conference and her resignation. The biggest problem with her press conference was that her stated reasons for resigning her office didn't make much sense.
She referred to the abuse that she and her family have taken from liberals in the press and elsewhere. No doubt about it: the liberal assault on Palin and her family has been the most despicable I've ever seen. If she had announced that she is leaving politics to return to private life, no one could have blamed her. But that isn't what she is doing; she is resigning as Governor but, evidently, running for President. So the attacks will continue and likely intensify.
She said that she didn't want to continue as a lame-duck governor. But the only reason she was a lame duck is that she had just announced she wasn't running for a second term. If she didn't want to be a lame duck, all she had to do was not hold the press conference.
Recognizing that these themes didn't account for her decision, Palin went on to explain that her real reason for resigning is that she and her office have been fatally distracted by the frivolous ethics complaints that the Democratic Party has mounted against her. She said that most of her time, and her staff's time, is now spent defending against such complaints--successfully, as every one so far has been dismissed. Most of them have been obviously stupid.
So Palin said she was resigning for the good of Alaska, since her successor will be free of this burden. Plus, she has run up a $500,000 legal bill in defending against the Democratic Party's silly charges.
This explanation has a great deal of appeal, but I don't think it holds together. Does Palin really want to set a precedent that a Republican who is unfairly attacked by Democrats will quit? If that principle were followed, the Republican Party would quickly become extinct.
Actually, the Democrats' frivolous ethics charges represent an opportunity. Alaska is a Republican-leaning state. If Palin were to push back against the Democrats--locally, not nationally--she could make them pay a price for their indefensible tactic, and likely cause them to back off. As for the $500,000, that is a minimal amount for a politician of Palin's stature to raise by setting up a defense committee. Donors would quickly furnish a war chest. On a worst-case scenario, Todd Palin could sign a book contract tomorrow for a $500,000 advance. The facts just don't support the idea that quitting as governor is a reasonable response to the Democrats' vicious but entirely unsuccessful ethics-complaint strategy.
Here is why I think Palin quit: she wants to be the Republican Presidential nominee in 2012. No surprise there, she currently has more support than any other contender in the polls. But she has a serious problem. Her rivals for the nomination are beginning to make the circuit of Republican and conservative grass-roots groups. They are able to criss-cross the country, building up support, establishing campaign committees, speaking to Republican groups on an informal basis, supporting other Republican candidates, laying the foundation for a 2012 run.
Palin, on the other hand, is isolated in Anchorage. It takes longer to get to and from Alaska than most people realize. Palin can't zip into Chicago, deliver a speech to a Republican conference and be back in her office in time to sign a bill. If she starts spending 75 percent of her time in the lower 48, she might in fact be able to carry out her gubernatorial duties via Blackberry, but she would be crucified for abandoning the state of Alaska in favor of her national ambitions. So she resigned, in order to free up her time to campaign for the 2012 Republican nomination.
That is, I think, the only explanation that fits the facts. I still think Palin's resignation was a mistake; it will make the logistics of campaigning much easier, but her failure to complete the only major government job to which she has been elected will haunt her.
What is most sad about this, in my opinion, is that Palin herself seems willing to play the role of the symbol she has become, no matter how at odds it may be with her actual record. I doubt that the old, pre-August 2008 Sarah Palin--the real Sarah Palin, in my book--would have quit.
This isn’t a dictatorship (yet). A top political leader has to negotiate with people who may be outright enemies. Babylon 5 had a good line about that. After the heroes liberate Earth and Mars, the new President laments, “That’s the problem with forming a new government; you have to negotiate with people that six months ago you would have just had shot!”
Those "most people" are just as anonymous as the GOP/ex-McCain flunkies who criticize Palin in the shadows.
She could have stayed as governor till 2010 and easily start her Presidential campaign after that and can raise tons of money.
She wouldn't have gotten anything done from now until 2010 and by the time the 2012 presidential race got underway, her term would have been characterized as being "scandal-plagued". Furthermore, her term would have finished in Dec of 2010 and she would have needed several months to get an exploratory committee underway and hire a staff. Especially being in Alaska, all that would have taken up crucial time. You should realize that last presidential election actually began just days before the 2006 mid-terms ended.
At this stage, her decision to quit does not add up and has ended up pulling down her chances for 2012 nomination.
She has given plausible reasons why she is stepping down and we don't know if she's really going to run in 2012 or not.
http://www.1260.am/programming/podcasts/popup/?ID=1864
listen to this
She’s not thinking about 2012; she don’t care if it will help her or not for future political office; she dont follow the conventional route for politican; she’s not your typical politican; she’s retiring because the frivilous lawsuit has made governing rest of her term difficult; she has done this before as head of oil and gas commission she she retired because of the corruption there
Since when did “finishing the job” mean sitting on the bench until the clock ran out? She accomplished much, I’d wager more than she promised when running for office. Ultimately she stopped being a defenseless pinata for liberal loonies, and that must be why people found fault with it.
Ironically, she helped create those ethics laws which make it harder to set up a legal defense fund.
I personally don’t see any reason why shs couldn’t have finished her term up in December of 2010 and then swung down to the lower 48. In fact no one would’ve faulted her for leaving (still as governor) in September or October for some last month campaigning.
It’s almost like McCain suspending his campaign to me. A total mystery in logic.
“Those “most people” are just as anonymous as the GOP/ex-McCain flunkies who criticize Palin in the shadows. “
You are paranoid and see a anti Palin conspiracy everywhere by McCain/Romney operatives.
Rasmussen poll says about 40% of Republican voters think Palin has hurt her chances by resigning.
So you are not saying 40% of republicans are McCain/Romney operatives < sarcasm off>
“She wouldn’t have gotten anything done from now until 2010 and by the time the 2012 presidential race got underway, her term would have been characterized as being “scandal-plagued”. “
Since she has successfully fought her ethics charges, then why would she be scandal plagued.
‘Furthermore, her term would have finished in Dec of 2010 and she would have needed several months to get an exploratory committee underway and hire a staff. ‘
She could still set up a exploratory committeein Aug/Sept 2010 after she has announced she would not seek reelection. What is so difficult about it.
“She has given plausible reasons why she is stepping down and we don’t know if she’s really going to run in 2012 or not. “
Her reasons simply are not convincing to a large section of Republican primary voters. While she was the overwhelming favourite to win the nomination before this, after resigning she has lost some of the edge, it is still too early to speculate on her chances at the 2002 election.
She could have stayed as governor till 2010 and easily start her Presidential campaign after that and can raise tons of money.
And the anklebiters and critics would of bitched saying “she wasn’t spending enough time working for our state!!!”
Everytime she left, there would had been one bogus ethics charge after another.
Nothing was geting nothing done...she was spending her time fending off bogus ethics complaints and racking up lawyer bills.
That part of the article, the accomplishments, was a direct quote from Sarah Palin’s resignation speech.
“Everytime she left, there would had been one bogus ethics charge after another.”
So to just escape those bogus ethics charges( which she had no problem clearing and she had no issues in raising money to fight against) she just resigned?
It is bizarre.
Forty percent (40%) of Republican voters nationwide say Sarah Palin’s decision to resign as governor of Alaska hurts her chances of winning the party’s presidential nomination in 2012.
So you are saying 40% of Republicans are wrong?
That is a big part of the base to upset so early in a Presidential campaign, Sarah has done that.
It was either remain in office for another year, or become bankrupt. Which would you choose if you were in her situation? She has children to raise, she chose family over Governorship, I can’t find fault with that. People should do some investigating and find out the ones who were funding these jerks who were filing these complaints
Norm, she like millions of other Americans, see what's going on in Congress and the fecklessness of the GOP and wants to make a difference. She wants to get in there and promote conservative principles and help candidates who share her vision win.
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