Sarah Palin’s decision to resign as governor of Alaska initially was hard to comprehend. Why would a woman who has huge (if not fully understood) potential within the Republican Party, but whose biggest liability is her lack of experience, leave her executive office?
Her statement Friday wasn’t so much rambling as unorthodox. I thought it had a solid structure. Governor Palin started by talking about how great Alaska is, went on to tout the state’s importance to the rest of the country, continued with a list of her accomplishments in office, concluded that list with the assertion that she’s plowed through her four-year agenda in just two, and then got personal, explaining that she doesn’t want to be a lame duck, that she’s tired of the endless questioning of her motivations and her family situation, and that she thinks she can still do a lot of good for the state and for her larger political causes outside government.
All in all, not a bad statement.
Yet the presentation probably threw some people, including me. When I read the statement to which Vinca linked — complete with its exclamation points and occasionally odd capitalization (”Outsider,” for instance) — I wondered if that’s how the governor’s office released it. It was.
Most transcripts are scrubbed a bit before they’re released to the public, but this seems to have been the governor’s actual reading copy, with verbal cues mixed in, which can come off as a bit odd.
Then there are the little phrases no other politician can get away with, like: “It’s energy! God gave us energy.”
Indeed. God made Sarah Palin a force of nature.
As for the message itself, it’s more skillful than it sounds at first. For instance, I thought the concept of not wanting to be a lame duck was a bad reason to resign office. But Governor Palin wrapped it in the language of fiscal responsibility and independent mindedness, which will serve her well with conservatives who believe the change that’s bombarding Washington is precisely the wrong kind of change.
Similarly, Governor Palin clearly telegraphed her interest in promoting key themes important to conservatives: “I’ll 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… I’ll work for and campaign for those proud to be American, and those who are inspired by our ideals and won’t deride them.”
That’s actually a pretty darn succinct statement of what it means to be a political conservative (that’s how we view ourselves at any rate).
And she nicely hammered home the “us vs. the liberal elites” message that has been her bread and butter: criticizing the shady political operatives who descended on Alaska last summer, harpooning “that liberal Ninth Circuit,” and crapping on the press, which is the single best unifier among Republican voters of all stripes.
So why would a woman who’s knocked for not having enough experience leave the one office that can help her accrue that experience before the next presidential election? Perhaps the governor said it best herself: “I’ve never believed that I, nor anyone else, needs a title to do this – to make a difference… to help people.”
That’s not necessarily a bad way to start reaching out to Republican primary voters.
