Palin is far from gone
Examiner Editorial
July 6, 2009
Pundits have had a field day speculating about what's really behind Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin's Friday announcement that she will shortly resign. The consensus seems to be that she has not helped her prospects for seeking national office in 2012 and thereafter, if she has not given up such hopes altogether, and that she acted mainly in angry and frustrated response to the incessant drumbeat of ridicule and false rumor that has enveloped her and her family since the 2008 presidential campaign. As usual with Palin, the conventional wisdom simply doesn't get it. That much ought to be clear to anybody who reads what Palin said without assuming that there must be more, or less, to it than meets the eye.
Two points stand out from Palin's statement Friday and her follow-up Facebook post. First, she intends to be even more of a national political force in the future, though doing so doesn't necessarily require that she seek the White House in 2012. As Palin put it, she plans to "work hard for others who still believe in free enterprise and smaller government; strong national security for our country and support for our troops; energy independence; and for those who will protect freedom and equality and life. ..."
She sees this effort as one that transcends the two major political parties, so she will support "others who seek to serve, in or out of office, for the right reasons, and I don't care what party they are in or no party at all. Inside Alaska or outside Alaska." Those in the mainstream media and the political parties who have sought to silence her have now succeeded in all but ensuring Palin a prominent place on the national political scene for years to come.
Second, things will be different in the future for Palin's critics who have heretofore been able to launch the most scurrilous attacks on her without fear of consequences. As she said in her Facebook statement: "The response in the main stream media has been most predictable, ironic, and as always, detached from the lives of ordinary Americans who are sick of the 'politics of personal destruction.' How sad that Washington and the media will never understand; it's about country."
When her critics go after Palin in the future, they will simply be giving her another opportunity to point out their detachment from the realities of everyday life for most Americans. What her critics mean to tear her down, she will use to build up a national movement.
