Your Fifteen Minutes are Up

The main reason Sarah Palin created so much excitement among her Right Wing Christian Talibanist GOP base was because they were desperate for their own “rock star” to counteract the clear charisma of the rival ticket. Palin was physically attractive and sassy, yes, but other than that she was a blank slate on which a disheartened fringe electorate could pin their hopes on. Their disappointment with the ticket they were stuck with was exposed in the “Palin/McCain” bumper stickers that cropped up which flipped the ticket, reflecting the preference of the Christian Talibanists.

As Palin became better known to the rest of the country, however, her appeal and poll numbers plummeted. It seems agreed now that Palin's selection was a disaster for the ticket, piling on top of the campaign's poor decisions and execution, as well as plain bad luck.

In deference to her popularity among the right wing faithful, Palin was a keynote speaker at a recent GOP meeting of governors. The invitation, however, appears to have been a bit pro forma and simply a nod to one wing of the party—her speech does not appear to have been very well received by her fellow governors or consistent, and some of her colleagues grumbled about the attention she received, whisking her away from her press conference after less than 5 minutes.

It's clear that Palin is ambitious—I presume she would not have reached the governorship of Alaska without some intelligence. (She certainly has the political shrewdness). Still, we're talking about Alaska here, which despite what the Governor says, apparently engages in the very socialist ideal of distributing oil wealth to its citizens.

To give Palin the benefit of the doubt, one explanation for her poor performance during the election was that until she had been plucked from the tundra to run as vice president, running for office at the national level was not yet on her radar and she hadn't had the years of preparation and education many candidates undertake when running for national office. Frankly, asking anyone to make the leap from governor of one of the least populated states in the union to vice presidential candidate is a huge one, and not something a few weeks of coaching would necessarily solve.

If Palin is serious about running for office in the lower 48 that would raise her national profile, I would suggest she prove herself as governor and develop some substance. Until then, she is doing nothing but wearing out her welcome and showing herself to be the empty suit she was during the presidential election.

Sarah, please go back to Alaska!