I Have A Dream Too -- But You'll Think It's Stupid
On Friday, a lot of people were asking: is Sarah Palin trying to dodge a scandal? Is she prepping for a run for President? Is she contemplating a lucrative career on the lecture circuit? Is that why she's resigning?
Naw. All these theorists were wrong. They were trying to fit the square peg of Palin's nutty decision into the round hole of logic. Yesterday she issued a statement that was supposedly going to "clarify" the remarks she made in her goofball press conference. The only thing she clarified is that she's crazy as a coconut:
How sad that Washington and the media will never understand; it's about country. And though it's honorable for countless others to leave their positions for a higher calling and without finishing a term, of course we know by now, for some reason a different standard applies for the decisions I make.Let's set aside the self-pity for a moment and consider this.
This idea of some greater mission came up in Friday's statement as well. To what "higher calling" does she refer? How can her decision be "about country" today when Friday it was about, alternately, Alaska and her family?
And who are the "countless others" who have answered the "higher calling" before they managed to serve a full term of office? I suppose she's referring to Obama here, though Obama didn't resign; and his opponents weren't shy about pointing to his status as a freshman senator during the campaign. Moreover, when he announced his run he was widely criticized as arrogant, a talented young man who was perhaps in too much of a hurry. Everyone knew, of course, that it was Hillary's turn, and he was never going to beat that juggernaut. Had Obama lost in the primaries, or the general, there is little doubt that he would have completed his first Senate term and run for a second in 2010.
Even if you grant that Obama's decision was analogous to Palin's -- and I don't -- who are the other "countless" politicians who have done the same?
I've never thought I needed a title before one's name to forge progress in America. I am now looking ahead and how we can advance this country together with our values of less government intervention, greater energy independence, stronger national security, and much-needed fiscal restraint. I hope you will join me. Now is the time to rebuild and help our nation achieve greatness!What to say? It's true, I suppose -- you don't have to hold a statewide office to advance your political agenda. But it helps.
Yes, you can influence the political debate from the outside. But it's easier from the inside, which happens to be where Palin is. Her strategic thinking is strangely reminiscent of The Great Gonzo's in The Muppet Movie:
