SARAH PALIN began the next stage of her highly unpredictable political life yesterday, having bowed out of her post of governor of Alaska 16 months before the term ends.
The official resignation at a governor’s picnic in Fairbanks leaves Ms Palin relieved of the bureaucratic burdens that had started to weigh her down in recent months. Supporters hope and believe she will use her new-found freedom to vigorously pursue a national profile that will lead to a run on the White House in 2012.
But plain Sarah Palin, devoid of the governor’s title, is also left without a formal political power base from which to kickstart any national campaign. She carries with her financial debts, continuing ethics battles related to her term in office, and the new label of “quitter”.
Exactly what she will do with her time remains a big question. The only known date in her diary is August 8th, when she will make a speech at the Ronald Reagan presidential library in California.
Pundits are equally divided between those who are convinced she is finished, and those who think the Palin spectacle has only just begun. Part of the reason for the polarised response is that Ms Palin is herself a polarising politician, and partly because she herself offers so little in the way of explanation.
Her most effusive comments these days are via Twitter, and they only add to the confusion. Recently she posted an overtly political tweet: “Aint gonna shut my mouth/I know there’s got to be a few hundred million more like me/just trying to keep it free.” Then on Saturday, she implied her mind was miles away from Washington: “W/kids in camper; on World’s Best Rd Trip!”
Ms Palin underlined her enduring popularity in her home state over the weekend. Thousands turned out for a farewell picnic in Anchorage on Saturday, where the Anchorage Daily News noted she received “rock star treatment”.
But on the wider political stage there are signs of slippage. A Washington Post-ABC poll found she was viewed unfavourably by 53 per cent of those polled, with only 40 per cent recording a favourable rating. – ( Guardianservice)