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. …”