Going Rogue and Supporting Palin

She just won't go away. No matter how hard we try we can't seem to shake Sarah Palin from the public's eyes. I keep trying as hard as I can but every few days she continues to make an appearance somewhere or making headlines. She's accomplishing the goal she and her supporters set for herself moments after the official word came to her that she and the maverickiest of mavericks (John McCain) had not won the election back in November. Since that time McCain has returned to Congress where he continues to be a voice for the GOP (for good or bad) and Palin... well... she just is. Whether you support her or can't stand her, you have to admit that she is doing an excellent job of keeping herself in the spotlight or remaining somewhat relevant despite the fact that she's no longer even involved in politics.

Now I will be the first to admit that I was a bit shocked with McCain at having chosen Palin primarily because no one (even people in Alaska) had heard of her. His announcement of Palin last summer made me think back to the announcement of Washington that their new head coach was going to be Jim Zorn. People were puzzled and confused as to how this person was suddenly being elevated to this posting never having been in the public spotlight before (and whether I'm talking about Palin or Zorn I'll leave you to decide). I can recall the sudden surge in interest that people began to show McCain and understandably. Just as it was historic to think of having the first African American voted into office in the form of Barack Obama, it was exciting to consider that the first woman Vice President could have been elected in that same election.

But as we came to learn more about Sarah Palin and some of her obvious... shortcomings; I think some people began to realize that perhaps she wasn't as qualified as she liked to think she was. Sure the press had a field day in wanting to play up her ignorance of world events and the fact that she wasn't the brightest bulb in the bunch, I think at the very least she made Dan Quayle look like a political genius by comparison. And I couldn't help but think that were I a woman, I would have been insulted at the insinuation that she was a representative of the best and brightest woman that could go on to take the Vice Presidency of the United States. Was there really no one better? There are so many women in governments around the nation did the GOP really have to choose Palin? Perhaps they figured Alaska was so far away that any attempts to confirm or deny her claims of success in the state wouldn't be able to be found due to distance.

Whatever the reasons, we are currently not finding ourselves under an administration being run by McCain with Palin backing him up. But by choosing to remain in the public spotlight, Palin is hoping to continue to ride the whirlwind of support she gathered during the build-up to the election and ride it to victory in 2012. I for one hope she does. Now I know that seems to fly in the face of what I've been writing for so long but I'll explain why my reasons to support her run make sense. Firstly, I think one of the major problems she had was that people who were on the fence in terms of supporting her and McCain were feeling that way because they didn't really know all that much about her or how she had handled Alaska during her time as Governor. I suppose we could look at her record and see how she's done and how she continued to do even after losing her run for Vice President. But wait. She resigned even before she completed her final term in office as Governor; I guess we'll have to be content in knowing what she could have or would have done had she not resigned.

As far as her experience in foreign affairs I think she's finally moved beyond being able to see Russia from her home state of Alaska. She's actually met with world leaders and has travelled to foreign lands (besides the contiguous 48 States). She gave a speech in Asia (and for the life of me I still don't know why) and she has met with world leaders like Pakistani President Zardari who called her 'gorgeous' and joked (and flirted) that if he had to hold his pose with Palin much longer he'd just have to hug her. Now a normal woman would have realized that she was being patronized or being treated like an object rather than an equal but Palin didn't seem to realize it. She maintained her poise and accepted the condescending compliment like it was just another day at the office. I suppose no one gets tired of hearing from complete strangers how 'gorgeous' they are.

I think by far the greatest means by which she will reach the American public and gain unprecedented support is through the forthcoming release of her book "Going Rogue" which promises to be a 400 page chronicle of her rise to glory and her plans for the future all the while outlining (I'm sure) her plans for the future. I think it's wonderful that rather than continuing the 'outstanding work' she did for Alaska through the completion of her term she decided to resign and subsequently work on a book meant to convince the rest of us that she's truly worthy of being a leader. A leader leads; a leader doesn't resign their position by assuming that they can't do any more good. Maybe she saw that Seinfeld episode where George feels it's best to leave the room on a high note. I suppose she's following the same advice. To me, writing a book is one of the most self-centered and self-serving things she could do given that she's not doing anything else for her state or her country for that matter.

So then why am I saying that I support Sarah Palin's inevitable run for the Presidency in 2012? Because I'm hoping that by continuing to remain in the political spotlight and gossip columns, people finally come to the realization that she truly doesn't know anything other than a few key phrases meant to pander to her conservative base supporters. I'm hoping that she'll continue to alienate support of the moderates and centrists to the point that they don't wish to support her. And most of all, I'm hoping she continues to do what she does best and eventually prove to the world that she truly has her own interests (and not those of the nation) in mind when she chooses to run for the Presidency. Here's to hoping.