And rightly so.
Here was this working mother of five who didn’t just sit on the sidelines of politics, she got involved — first in her community as a mayor and later as the state’s governor.
But somewhere along the way, she lost her appeal to the masses. She’s still losing it and for one who was once thought a shoe-in for the presidential race on the Republican side in 2012, her popularity seems on a downward spiral over her latest headline grab.
On Friday, the governor announced she would not run for re-election. It might have been OK had she stopped there. But she went on to say she will resign July 26 with more than a year left on her term because she doesn’t want to be a lame duck.
If that were the thinking of every governor, four-year terms would be a thing of the past across this country. The people of Alaska elected her to a four-year term and with no higher office to give it up for, off she rides into the sunset, casting blame on others she passes by.
It’s the media’s fault. It’s the fault of a long list of ethics investigations surrounding her. It’s the self-portrait of a maverick bucking a system of junkets and lame duck ineffectiveness.
For someone who bills herself as straight talking, we find her words erratic. There is an easier way to bypass junkets. Don’t go on them.
And it is simpler not to be labeled a quitter if you simply don’t quit.
Palin’s behavior seems calculated, but no one knows the real impetus for it yet. She’s certainly not telling her constituents in Alaska or the American public.
If it is her strategy to run for president or move on to something else, she needs to go ahead and say it straight. Excuses rather than explanations fall well short of what she owed Alaskans who elected her a full-term governor of their state.
And it is woefully shy of what she owes the American public if she does indeed make a presidential bid in 2012.
