A spokesman for the FBI office in Alaska said, unequivocally, that there is no investigation of the Palins underway or under consideration; and he further said that there is "no wiggle room" in that statement. It is the FBI that has very actively investigated corruption charges against Alaska politicians, including the case against Senator Stephens. So this sounds pretty solid.
So, perhaps Palin's abdication is a political move. Resigning as governor with 18 months to go in your first term and with no real accomplishments to your credit would not be a wise maneuver toward running for president -- except perhaps if you are Sarah Palin.
For the Republican establishment and for independents, it sounds sort of wacky and unstable.
But for Palin supporters, it may be just the right thing. She will play it up as another instance of her being the maverick that they love, just-saying-no to the establishment and going outside to the people (conservative people, that is).
As I think more about it, it is a typical Palin move. She can't really compete in the usual way of politics. She doesn't have the command of facts or the rhetoric to appeal to real thinkers, so she shuns it as "inside the beltway stuff" and appeals to all the others who feel left out, who fear that government will take their money and their guns.
Her anti-intellectual stance plays well in the small towns and redneck working areas -- the "real" America, as she likes to call it.
So -- I can see Palin doing this as a calculated move toward running for President. She's not going to have much of a record to run on as governor, even if she continued, so she's cutting that loss and moving out to build up her national constituency.
I still wonder about the abruptness and the frazzled-seeming delivery of her decision.
We'll see. This is one that we will know the answer to, in time.
Ralph
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Even though Palin's base will love it, I can't see this move as doing anything to expand her base. Appealing to the mentality that wants to "take back our country" and thinks in terms of "us against the guv-ment" will only fire up those who already support her.
ReplyDeleteI can't see it increasing her strength among moderate Repubs or Independents.
So it may be as smart a political move as she can make, but I don't see it as winning her the nomination and certainly not the presidency.
After watching the Roundtable discussion on This Week about Sarah Palin's announcement, I had a further thought.
ReplyDeleteShe wants to "spare Alaska the expense" of her being a lame-duck governor (implying she wouldn't be able to get anything done) and she wants to work for change outside the government.
What does this say about her ability to work WITHIN government if she became a presidential candidate?
Even if she galvanized a movement to "take back government," what can she offer as an indication that she could actually govern effectively?
Two and a half years as governor of a small state, with little accomplished, and then she walked away from the remainder of her term.
That's it? Well, yes. That's it.
Oh I forgot, she was mayor of Walissa, where she fought with the librarian.
On the other hand, never let it be said that the American voters necessarily let realistic qualifications be the primary determinant of their votes.
ReplyDeleteCenk Uygur (and I have no idea how to pronounce his name) is a blogger on HuffintonPost and also hosts the daily webtv talk show "The Young Turks."
ReplyDeleteHe made a good point: whatever the reason for Palin's resignation, she thinks it will be politically damanging.
Why? Because she made the announcement on Friday afternoon of a holiday weekend when the news was still preoccupied with Mark Sanford and Michael Jackson; and she made it without any prior warning to gin up a crowd. That's the way you announce bad news that you hope won't get too much press scrutiny and hope you won't get many questions.
If you have good news to announce, you build up suspense, schedule it ahead of time, with leaks of what it might be about, and then you make it in time to meet the evening news -- and hope no crisis overshadows it.
Of course, being Sarah Palin, there's no way this was not going to get endless coverage and speculation.