By John Wilkes from Eyesonobama.com:
Sarah Palin likes to think that she learned enough from running for vice president on John McCain's Republican ticket in 2008to justify running for president in 2012. But considering her recent decision to resign as Governor of Alaska before the end of her term, did she really learn from McCain's mistakes?
It's been four days now, but analysts across the political spectrum are still trying to understand Sarah Palin's logic in stepping down as Governor of Alaska effective July 26th. Both conservative radio guru Rush Limbaugh and former Bush advisor Karl Rove used the word "perplexing" to describe the move, while others were less forgiving, like Republican Senator from Alaska Lisa Murkowski, who called Palin's decision "disappointing." Palin announced her resignation on Friday.
Whatever her reasons are, it appears that Palin has her eye on the ball: the 2012 presidential election. There are two problems with that. First, that ball hasn't even been thrown yet. And second of all, did she learn nothing from what happened to John McCain when he abandoned one task to tend to another?
Back on September 25 of 2008, the financial crisis had gone from bad to worse almost overnight, and McCain (who had earlier declared that the "fundamentals of our economy are strong") made the decision to "suspend" his campaign for long enough to return to Washington and deal with the business of the economy. The move backfired. Obama seized on the opportunity to slam McCain for not being able to deal with multiple responsibilities at once, something that is constantly required of an American President.
Palin's situation seems hardly different. Admittedly, Palin isn't getting as much press as she could if she were traveling the lower 48 states with relative frequency. And as the economy continues to falter, it's governors that are taking the heaviest beating. But what will go down on the record books is that when things got tough politically, Palin bailed.
McCain's disaster should have taught Palin a valuable lesson: you can't call time out and feign concern as you throw attention at one problem while ignoring another. Similarly, you can't say, "This game isn't fun anymore. I quit, because I want to be president." If she can't handle a few bumps in the road in Alaska, how can she run a world superpower?
Palin's decision to quit will leave her to run for president in 2012 with less than 2.5 years of political experience (that's not counting her time as Mayor of Wasilla). Even if she had declined to run for reelection in 2010, she still would have walked away with a full term under her belt.
Still, Palin polls well among Republican voters. In recent weeks, she's been identified as the most popular candidate in the potential Republican field. Holding onto that popularity, though, may be tougher than she thinks.