Pumas 4 Palin

Governor Sarah Palin is undecided!

Will she run for President in 2012? She hasn’t made up her mind.

But then, she is in a Nobama state of mind!

Except that she didn’t use that bloggers’ shorthand of a word.  Such is our Governor, a graceful politician after all.  She is someone who knows her own mind quite well, as well as knows her time equally well.  So she spoke her thoughts candidly while keeping her options open.  I have no doubt that she is running, but it won’t be on others’ schedule.

According to the Daily Caller, when asked at the Iowa State Fair about making up her mind regarding entering the 2012 race, Sarah Palin simply said:

I’m of the mind of ABO — Anybody But Obama, at this time.

 Sarah Palin

That answer and the attendant elaboration, and the fact that she has always admitted that the other candidates are quite qualified to run for president, all of it shows that Sarah Palin is following a two pronged strategy toward the 2012 election – keep pressure up, keep powder dry.

Consider all that has come to pass hitherto.

Obamacare came to visit and stayed despite being unwelcome and legal challenges still pending. Tea Party came to be born, blessed and baptized under fire, and very nearly mangled to death by innuendo. But it’s still here, wailing away. Our president goes around the world telling every one that we are not all that special, that Islam is an essential fabric of America or in inseparable part of American Spirit, even as the war upon civilized existence continues unabated worldwide. Journ-O-list came out of the closet and the stank up the whole party, pun intended. Only true believers trust reporters, and every one of them has taken a side openly. Openly opposed to Sarah Palin, that is.

All of that was before the mid-term election that bore her imprint quite deeply. In a way 2010 vindicated Sarah Palin singularly and ideologically. The Mama Grizzly will only get stronger and loom large going forward.

More recently, the birth certificate came out and was forgot promptly. Osama got killed and that fact too was forgot quickly, thanks in large measure to the anti-climactic timing and the administration’s over-calculated handling of the event. The two (now many little) wars drag on and the economy drags down. The president’s approval rates teeter on the brink of collapse, and so does any chance of a financial recovery. So many controversies, flaps, scandals, and non-events. And so many events that should have marked us for good, have only left us with a bad taste.

The one thing that remained constant prior to and since the ‘shellacking’ of 2010 has been the dual phenomena: slow decline of the President’s popularity and the never ending questions about the Governor. But then aren’t the two really connected!

What has truly been the singular event that captured the imagination of the nation, made the voters sit up and think, and got the pundits all agog was the very simple act of Sarah Palin resigning the governorship.

And the fact that she has delivered on the promise she made at the time of resignation – she would serve this nation as a private citizen as best as she could. That she did, travelling, writing, speaking and speaking out, and campaigning for like-minded candidates. She was as much the moving spirit behind the public’s education on death panels, as she was the spiritual mentor of the Tea Party movement. For all this, the Left never lost a chance at sliming her, including infamously seeking to blame her for the tragic attempt on a congresswoman’s life. But then, the Left never misses beat when it comes to spin, slime and slander.

Sarah Palin’s most ardent fans ‘just know’ that she is planning on running. Her critics fear the same. For three years now, she kept up this two pronged approach. On the one hand she kept up the attacks on the failures and shortcomings of the prevailing ideology and practice. On the other hand, she stayed in full public view, and unencumbered by title or office, not only fended off all ‘official’ investigations, but also moved incrementally, inexorably toward the inevitable – candidacy 2012.

Keep Pressure Up:

Sarah Palin continues to grow strong with the base. Her blogger support keeps growing steadily. Numerous blogs sprang up in the wake of her resignation. Networks of bloggers and supporters now exist. Though much, much more needs to happen, sees have been sown that will germinate rapidly and grow to awesome heights.

Every public issue has elicited a response from her. Be it taxes, bailouts,  energy needs, debt issue, or the ground zero mosque, Sarah Palin opined forth, framed her values and presented herself in the clearest light. She could be a wonk when she chooses to, like on oil and gas matters. She could be poetic and emotive when the moment calls for it, such as on the mosque matter. But express self, she will. Whatever the average voter might say come 2012, one thing for sure, the world knows where Sarah Palin stands. Unless of course, the media decides to muddy the waters as they are won’t to do – as they have done with both Hillary and Sarah in 2008. Even McCain, the darling of the media circa GOP dominance, even the war hero fell by the wayside when media turned en masse toward Barack Obama in a sheer unabashed adulation.

However, Sarah Palin’s detractors rest never, as can be seen by the mindless comments some leave at this humble blog. Her every Tweet, Facebook posting, public appearance and speech provoke massive amounts of bile at the usual trash sites. The beltway buffoons continue to disparage her, but the average voter is going to tire of it, is already tired of it. The world is too much with us, the daily burdens of being are too real for too many of us.  As they said, it’s the economy stupid, and those who in the past blindly followed the media that ennobled our uncompromising, ill-prepared president, at the expense of the governor, will begin to listen to her with a new keenness.  At last in 2012, it will have become too painful for the middle class American to imbibe the koolade of left-wing criticism of Sarah Palin, and ignore the stark realities of one’s own life. That’s why she keeps speaking out. Just as she promised  on that Independence day three years ago. (Remember, the only response the liberals could come with back then was to float rumors about her divorce, ah wretchedness!)

Sarah Palin’s opinions are seldom held back. Seldom blunt, or overstate the case. She offered measured critique of every major issue, and on every event that occurred since 2008. She never singled out the president or the white house, but instead ‘spread the wealth around’. She included in her critique her own party colleagues, high priests of the administration, the congress and other public institutions whenever they deviated from her values and vision. Commonsense Conservative is going to be a phrase one will hear a lot of.

Keep Powder Dry:

The pundits keep putting pressure on Palin to announce, asking themselves, each other, the wind currents and whoever will listen, when will she announce. They come up with fake deadlines, phony time frames and counts the days of their broadcasts,  to ask if time is running out on Sarah. The answer to all is the same, time is on the side of Sarah Palin. The longer she is in the news, the longer the public tires of the punditry. Being in the news can hurt her no longer. So much mud has been slung against her, the slings and arrows hurt no more, and in fact could easily turn into boomerang. Look back at how pathetic they sound when they ask Michelle Bachmann or Mitt Romney some silly question, and how the answer is received – any answer at all. Gradually, it seems to me, the lefty media is shooting itself in the foot. And by carrying on like the anointed arbiters of public opinion, it is they who will eventual lose all credibility. The average voter is liable to ask a year hence, is it possible that every political leader is so completely useless that only the current head of state can lead us out of here, after bringing us here in the first place? 2012 will be a far cry from 2004 when GWB managed to scrape past Kerrey. Things are a lot worse now than back then. If Sarah Palin waits and serves, the voter will come to her. Hence she keeps the powder dry.

There is another dimension to her current style of non-campaign campaigning. By letting all the other GOP leaders play their public role in the pre-primary, pre-announcement stage play, she gracefully admits their individuality, substance, and public spirit. There is a certain generosity of spirit in letting these men and women be center stage, and have the media spotlight on them instead of the Governor sucking the oxygen out of the scene. I believe this is actually a calculated homage sort of gesture on Sarah Palin’s part in not glomming on to publicity (notwithstanding rabid leftwing accusations to the contrary). She knows the media will swarm around her when she chooses. Why monopolize all the attention. Let others take a turn. After all the one that survives will help her enormously when she decides to announce. (Fun to ponder: Palin & Perry in 2912)

If Sarah Palin is allowing herself to hold back, and let others debate, preen and strut, there is also a certain benefit to her that is real but not direct.

Americans have seen recently vicious attacks from the the media and the Left on every GOP candidate. The worst form of innuendo, silly research and back story spinning have come out about all nomination seekers. By letting others take the heat and glare for a change, Sarah is exposing the vacuity of the commentaries. Sooner or later the casual voter is going to ask if anybody is good enough for these media people. (Well we all know the answer to that). Sarah Palin is letting others get a taste of what she faced in 2008. If they can take it, good for them. If they survive and flourish, better yet. Palin herself will wait until this shakeout process runs its course. There is nothing in it for her at this early stage. Such a bloodied primary process would have been inevitable anyway, but why give the liberal media something to gloat over.

Take your time Governor. For we know you will do right by America …. Run!

[I don’t know about legal deadlines and regulatory cut-offs. But speaking as an ordinary voter, January 2012 is soon enough for the decision.  As a matter of fact, it wouldn’t be bad at all if the first primary were held on the first day of Spring. The whole formal campaign season is too darn long as it is. And the modern technology makes it even seem longer and over-crowded with non-events. A gentler pace to the primaries is long over due, and can only benefit the true electoral process, notwithstanding the self-serving views of the pundit class.]

One other matter.

Come First Monday in October the US  Supreme Court will start a new term, and could well begin a new round of debate over Obamacare. Indeed, by the end of the year we may well know the fate of this monstrosity of a government undertaking. By November, Sarah Palin may very well stand vindicated at least partially. Or, the president might well admit having to rework the master legislation. It will enhance Sarah Palin’s vision of governance. The public will look at her more objectively, directly.

Finally, there is always the possibility however remote, that as disillusionment spreads, a primary challenge could rise on the Democrat side, even if the punditry doth protest too much.  Already there is sentiment that Hillary would have been a better president. And that can only help Sarah Palin. 

Over one million results to the phrase ‘primary challenged to Mr. Obama in 2012’ could be ominous. Who knows what discontent lurks in the heart of the winter that’s around the corner?

Time is on the side of Sarah Palin – keep pressure up, keep powder dry.