I honestly don’t know what to say. I don’t get it. Luckily, I’m not alone, because it seems nobody else does either. Some people are trying to guess the reasons, citing burnout or family reasons or some as-of-yet hidden scandal, but until Palin says something herself or some other kind of news arises, guess is all we can do.
My sense of the response to the news from across the media and blogosphere is one of utter confusion in most places, but apart from Palinistas like Conservatives4Palin, the response from the pundits is pretty overwhelmingly negative thus far, even from conservatives. It is strange. Government officials typically resign for only a couple reasons: 1) Scandals 2)To “spend more time with the family” 3)Medical reasons. Of those three, #2 is usually only common with appointed officials like Cabinet members. Politicians typically don’t resign because of negative media attention, even at the level that Palin has gotten. If such were the case, George W. Bush would have resigned well before his second term was completed.
I also don’t buy the lame duck excuse because no politician is a lame duck until the period between an election and the end of a politician’s time in office. She either really doesn’t understand what a lame duck is (and I assume she does), or she’s hoping her constituents won’t. Unfortunately, not everybody follows politics as close as other people, so maybe she’s trying to speak to the uninterested here, hoping it slips through. I don’t think it will.
I think Ed Morrissey at Hot Air puts it best when he writes “Palin’s abandoning her post, and at least from her own description, doing it because she doesn’t want to deal with the issues of being a “lame duck,” a status all politicians have to handle at some point.” He’s right. You don’t resign unless there’s a very good reason to do so. That may be the case. The speech gave very little detail over her thought process, other than vague references to a lame duck period that won’t happen for over a year. So, there could be something else there. If so, though, why not just announce it? If there is some kind of illness in the family, I can understand wanting to have privacy, but with a national profile like hers, it’s eventually going to get out anyway. Better to say it now and end the speculation before it starts, yes?
The way all of this going down will give the perception to many that she’s only interested in her own ambitions, even at the expense of her own fellow Alaskans. Even if the reports of her no longer planning to run for president in 2012 are true, I think jumping ship now, without a valid for doing so, will put a bad taste in Alaskans’ mouths. Americans are not interested in leaders who up-and-run at the moment things seem tough. They want people there who will do their utmost best to represent them at all times, and leaving office now makes Palin seem like someone who isn’t as tough as they might have hoped. In any case, it will come back to haunt her should she wish to run for president.
Finally, I’d note that there seems to be an insistence by Palin to keep this focused on the fact she’s not running for re-election rather than the resignation. This is perhaps best exemplified in a recent Tweet which says, “We’ll soon attach info on decision to not seek re-election… this is in Alaska’s best interest, my family’s happy… it is good, stay tuned”
Palin may wish to try and control the way the story goes, but the fact she is resigning in such a bizarre way has already taken it out of her hands. A decision not to run for a second term would certainly be news, but it is relatively common enough that it would be treated much differently. I think the story is going to remain about the resignation, and given the reaction throughout even most of the conservative blogosphere, she won’t be able to demonize the media for it and retain credibility.
Those are my thoughts. I have a brief punditry round-up after the jump.
By Jason Steck, 
Also known as the commenter “Buckeye”, Patrick Glenn is the newest contributor to PoliGazette. We…
European voters realize that not American capitalism, nor free markets, but progressive, leftist policies are to blame for today’s severe economic crisis. Capitalism and free markets were declared dead alright, but not by voters but by journalists, most of whom are socialists.
Cohen bases his recommendations for a large part on 9/11. This even showed, he says, that terrorism is as big a threat to America as it is to Israel. Therefore, it has to learn from Israel’s experiences; it has, after all, the most experienced and best anti-terrorism forces in the world.
Winston Churchill is reputed to have said that the best cure for democracy is five…
Speaker Nancy Pelosi is accusing the Central Intelligence Agency of lying about briefing her on water boarding. I find myself less sympathetic to Madam Speaker, and reminded of the famous remarks by President Richard Nixon - “I am not a crook.” Words which proved to be, shall we say, disingenuous.
Writing in the Boston Globe,
The debate over government provided insurance is raging on in Congress and among the American public. My own experience with government run healthcare has shaped my views on what direction I think the United States should take. I provide my story here.
It might seem like Mr. Miyagi once tutored Barrack Obama and Hillary Clinton on foreign policy. Since January, the administration has been practicing diplomatic Jujitsu: hands off (North Korea), hands on (Israel), hands off (Iran). This week, it’s hands on Honduras. In fact, the administration was so quick to condemn the “coup” in Honduras that you could almost hear the Karate whiplash sound. The AP reported today:
Thus far in the still-early months of his term, President Obama has largely stuck with…
Several weeks ago, influential Dutch conservative blog De Dagelijkse Standaard broke the news that another wannabe…
U.S. President Barack Obama is likely to reinstate and Executive Order allowing for the indefinite detention of War on Terror detainees. Indefinite detention, along with the administration’s planned preventative detention system, is a dangerous precedent that goes against the long held tradition of trying war criminals.
Earlier Saturday, Lebanon’s President Michel Suleiman 
Friday, the United States House of Representatives 
For months now, polls show that the majority of Americans oppose closing Guantanamo Bay, and favor indefinite detention of terrorism suspects. Members of Congress and the White House are obviously aware of these polls, which is why the former have indicated to the latter that they are hard pressed to change many of Bush’s national security policies.
Earlier this week
It continues to be extremely entertaining to watch Vice President Joe Biden, who seems to…
