What's Up With Sarah Palin?

Well, it seems the biggest news of the day is that Sarah Palin has resigned as Governor of Alaska:

Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin made a surprise announcement Friday that she is resigning from office at the end of the month without explaining why she plans to step down, raising speculation that she would focus on a run for the White House in the 2012 race.

The former Republican vice presidential candidate hastily called a news conference Friday morning at her home in suburban Wasilla, giving such short notice that only a few reporters actually made it to the announcement. State troopers blocked late-arriving media outside her home, and her spokesman, Dave Murrow, finally emerged to confirm that Palin will step down July 26. He refused to give details about the governor's future plans.

"Once I decided not to run for re-election, I also felt that to embrace the conventional Lame Duck status in this particular climate would just be another dose of politics as usual, something I campaigned against and will always oppose," Palin said in a statement released by her office.

Lt. Gov. Sean Parnell will be inaugurated at the governor's picnic in Fairbanks at the end of the month, Murrow said.

From all I've seen and read about this, there are two main suggestions of why she's resigning:

1. she's tired of the abuse and wants to return to 'normal' life
2. she's gearing up for a 2012 Presidential run

There were a few mentions of a 2010 Senate campaign, too, but that seems to be a bit far-fetched, since being a Governor is hardly second fiddle to a Senator. It would get her into Washington, but being an outsider is one of her main attractions with the base, so I'm not sure that would be a plus for her. I saw a few mentions that there's an impending scandal, but I'll believe that when I see it - with the media literally sending paid dirt-diggers to Alaska last fall, I find it hard to believe they didn't already turn up every minuscule skeleton in her closet. Heck, they even made stuff up to try to nail her, and none of it stuck. I suppose the scandal angle is possible, but I think it's unlikely.

Erick Erickson at Red State is one of those who think Palin's just signed the death warrant for her political career:

1. Sarah Palin resigned, I think, to spare her family from more attacks. I don’t think it is a coincidence that Sarah Palin is doing this just days after a very nasty Vanity Fair article where folks like Nicolle Wallace and, according to Bill Kristol, McCain campaign manager Steve Schmidt (though I’m told Schmidt is not involved), savaged her.

2. Unfortunately, by resigning, I think the left and national media will be emboldened to ritualistically engage in the metaphorical gang raping of conservative politicians, particularly those who are female and have children. They’ll decide savaging Palin’s family drove her from office, so the sky’s the limit on the next conservative with kids.

3. I’m sad that so many people are mad at me for voicing my opinion that she’s done with elected politics. I have always supported Sarah Palin. I continue to support her. But that does not change what I think. We should not be invested in the politician or the personality, but the ideas.

He lists several other reasons that all make a certain amount of sense. He seems to think Palin is done with elected office, but not getting out of politics altogether; getting out of the spotlight would allow her to focus on working behind the scenes for the good of the party and conservatives around the country.

I would tend to agree with the other suggestion that says she's going for the whole shebang in 2012. This seems to be the emerging consensus in Right-leaning circles, although I'm sure much more speculation and discussion will abound over the coming days and weeks.

One person who seems to walk the line between the two is Bill Kristol. He's not been a particularly adoring fan of Palin in the past, but here's his analysis, which also makes some sense:

If Palin wants to run in 2012, why not do exactly what she announced today? It's an enormous gamble - but it could be a shrewd one.

After all, she's freeing herself from the duties of the governorship. Now she can do her book, give speeches, travel the country and the world, campaign for others, meet people, get more educated on the issues - and without being criticized for neglecting her duties in Alaska. I suppose she'll take a hit for leaving the governorship early - but how much of one? She's probably accomplished most of what she was going to get done as governor, and is leaving a sympatico lieutenant governor in charge.

And haven't conservatives been lamenting the lack of a national leader? Well, now she'll try to be that. She may not succeed. Everything rests on her talents, and on her performance. She'll be under intense and hostile scrutiny, and she'll have to perform well.

All in all, it's going to be a high-wire act. The odds are against her pulling it off. But I wouldn't bet against it.

For some highlights of Palin's resignation speech, including many of the accomplishments she's achieved while in the Governor's office, check out Gateway Pundit:

My administration's accomplishments speak for themselves. We work tirelessly for Alaskans.

We aggressively and responsibly develop our resources because they were created to be used to better our world... to HELP people... and we protect the environment and Alaskans (the resource owners) foremost with our policies.

Here's some of the things we've done:

We created a petroleum integrity office to oversee safe development. We held the line FOR Alaskans on Point Thomson - and finally for the first time in decades - they're drilling for oil and gas.

We have AGIA, the gasline project - a massive bi-partisan victory (the vote was 58 to 1!) - also succeeding as intended - protecting Alaskans as our clean natural gas will flow to energize us, and America, through a competitive, pro-private sector project. This is the largest private sector energy project, ever. THIS is energy independence.

And ACES - another bipartisan effort - is working as intended and industry is publicly acknowledging its success. Our new oil and gas "clear and equitable formula" is so Alaskans will no longer be taken advantage of. ACES incentivizes NEW exploration and development and JOBS that were previously not going to happen with a monopolized North Slope oil basin.

We cleaned up previously accepted unethical actions; we ushered in bi-partisan Ethics Reform.

We also slowed the rate of government growth, we worked with the Legislature to save billions of dollars for the future, and I made no lobbyist friends with my hundreds of millions of dollars in budget vetoes... but living beyond our means today is irresponsible for tomorrow.

And we made common sense conservative choices to eliminate personal luxuries like the jet, the chef, the junkets... the entourage.

And the Lt. Governor and I said "no" to our pay raises. So much success in this first term - and with this success I am proud to take credit...

An objective look at it will tell you that she's got far more executive experience -- especially in terms of actually working with her political opponents for a common purpose, and actually getting things done -- than Barack Obama had last November. She came up to speed very fast as the VP nominee; watching how she's handled recent interviews and public spats shows she's only gotten better at handling the media. There's no reason to think she'll be wanting for either experience or camera savvy.

If she truly is going for the White House in 2012, she'll have two and a half years to get out there and rub shoulders, do some fundraising, and start earning the good will of GOPers on a state and local level across the nation. She won't be tied down to a job in an out-of-the-way state that many of the power players around the country think (even if they won't say it) is a backward place full of hicks.

I think she's going for 2012 for several reasons. Anyone who has the guts and wherewithal to rise to a Governorship has thick skin. I don't believe it when people say she's gotten tired of the attacks from the Left; someone like Palin strikes me as being at her most determined when the fire really gets burning hot, and to turn tail and run just doesn't jive. If she goes away quietly, I'll be surprised. On the contrary, I think she can taste the White House. There is always a pendulum effect in politics, and as I've blogged about before, America never likes to have one party in power for long. Especially given Barack Obama's historically unprecedented power grabs and spending binges, the backlash is a virtual certainty, so she'll be riding the wave at just the right time.

She's also the one Republican politician in recent years who has truly connected with the base. The base has been floundering without any real representation in high profile positions for years, and is literally begging to get someone they love and can believe in. Sarah Palin fits that bill to a tee. Even now, after her losing VP candidacy, she is drawing crowds of tens of thousands of people. She's a fundraising juggernaut half a step better than the Obamessiah himself, and there's no reason to think that will let up.

She appears to be willing to fight. Right-wingers have had enough of the liberal way of life already, and are sick of the constant betrayal of candidates who run as conservatives and govern as moderates. Another couple of years are only going to harden and solidify the angst into fierce, burning anger, and Palin's already shown a willingness to pick the fights that we want our elected leaders to fight.

Finally, I think -- and this may be a bit politically incorrect, but you know that rarely stops me -- that being a woman will help her tremendously. Obama broke the minority-as-President barrier, so the sky is now the limit for any and all minorities. I think there's also quite a bit of leftover sympathy for Hillary Clinton getting shafted out of her shot at the White House, so a great many women are going to want to see a woman in there next, even if that candidate isn't the perfect match politically speaking. The dirty little secret is that a whole boatload of voters cast their votes based on the personalities involved rather than the issues (we certainly learned that last fall, didn't we?), so this could work heavily in Palin's favor.

No one really knows at this point what she's planning to do. But, as more information comes out, you can be sure it'll be posted here.

There's my two cents.