Knowing that many, many conservatives will absolutely dump on me
for saying this, I can't help myself: Sarah Palin's resignation
is an appalling dereliction of duty and a highly cynical move to
set herself up for a presidental run for which she is manifestly
unqualified.
I have written the same thing about other politicians who
resigned their offices mid-term without any scandal or family
crisis necessitating it: It is an absolute dereliction of duty to
quit mid-term. When you run for office, you are making a promise
to your constituents to serve out your term (unless you get
elected to higher office or have one of the aforementioned
compelling reasons not to do so). To do otherwise is, in effect,
to break your word. It is a sign of a lack of integrity.
Now, I also have argued that being governor of Alaska is one of
the easiest jobs in politics because Alaska is rolling in money
and because its population is so low -- and also because it
receives so much outrageous federal pork. I have therefore argued
that Sarah Palin was not yet qualified for the presidency. Two
years as governor of such a state, with very little other
relevant experience beforehand, does not amount to qualification
for the presidency. It has nothing to do with Ms. Palin, but
everything to do with the nature of the respective jobs.
I have argued, also, that Bobby Jindal is not yet ready to be
president, but getting closer. Why? Because almost anybody can
get elected as a reformer under the right circumstances; the real
test comes when the bad-ol'-boys have time to regroup,
re-strategize, and make their counter-attack. If somebody not
only gets elected as a reformer and does a few reformist things
at the beginning of one's term, but THEN maintains enough
political strength AND integrity to fight off the counterattack
and remain a reformer four, five or six years into the office at
hand -- THAT is when the person starts becoming a statesman. Just
as a congressman isn't a legitimate conservative or reformer
until AFTER he has been in office for at least six or eight years
and still has NOT been Beltwayed, so too is a governor not a
fully legitimate reformer and conservative until having remained
one for a full cycle or more.
What Sarah Palin did today was get out before the real challenges
of the job (whatever challenges there are for such an easy job)
really rear their heads. The going got tough in terms of spurious
ethics charges against her, and she took off. That's cowardly.
That's not a sign of staying power. It's a sign of wanting to get
out while the getting is good, in order to become a full-time
candidate for a presidential race that won't culminate for 3 1/2
more years. It's a little too calculating, by half -- or more.
I just listened to her speech announcing her decision, and found
it singularly unimpressive. "This was a rambling, bombastic,
self-centered, 'poor me' kind of speech." That's how Mike Carey
of the Anchorage Daily News just described her speech on
Fox News. I agree. He then said it was, darn, I already can't
remember if he said it was "pitiful" or "pathetic," but it was
some word like that. Again, I agree. It was a speech in which she
clearly made a bid for a national audience -- not a very
effective bid, but a transparent one -- but didn't adequately
explain to the people of Alaska why she was relinquishing her
duty.
Again, I repeat: I have written the same criticisms of other
candidates who left office early. If I remember rightly, I did so
even at the report that U.S. Rep. Adam Putnam was doing so -- an
erroneous report that I read on the 'Net -- before it became
clear that Putnam was just announcing that he would not run
again, not that he would actually leave mid-term.
The point is that the criticism here is not Palin-specific; it is
a consistent theme of mine. Then again, I am rather
old-fashioned, and have some old-fashioned notions of public
service. I view a campaign as a commitment to serve. That
commitment has now been broken by Sarah Palin.
Statesmen hang tough. Sarah Palin is cutting and running. 'Nuff
said.
