Thursday, August 20, 2009

How's That Resignation Thing Going?

To continue the thought provoked by Sarah Palin: Crazy Like A Fox, I'm observing that the local heat based on petty nonsense about Sarah Palin has died down and the national heat based on important issues has heated up, and in a good way.

She has said that she will be much better situated to affect change outside of the governor's office. Within three weeks, she's nearly single handedly taken down Obamacare and broken a story about money going to Brazil to drill for oil.

She's still taking a hit in the polls with most people who react inside the box regarding her resignation. But that will change when her book comes out and she hits the circuit. It did for Hillary Clinton. It will for Sarah. It was at this point in Reagan's situation following the 1976 loss to Gerald Ford that a poll was conducted that showed that more people would vote for Ford than Reagan if Ford decided to run in 1980. Reagan, however, still remained a top contender for the primaries as does Sarah Palin.

Have you seen vicious comments and biased articles in the Anchorage Daily News as of late? Have the Alaska bloggers been chronicling and stalking every move of Sarah Palin as of late and spinning it in such a way that MSNBC can’t but help to buy into it? Have we read any stories lately about new ethics complaints being filed or complaints from state legislators because Sarah Palin may want to go speak at a dinner out of state?

No. She’s not the governor anymore.

Half the PR battle was won with her resignation. By taking herself out of the spotlight of the governor’s office and acting in the privacy that is afforded regular citizens without title, she literally pulled the plug on most of what the smear campaign was trying to do to her.

It’s a brilliant move considering that she presents well researched pieces on her Facebook page which ultimately requires detractors to shift from personally attacking her to having to take her on about the issues. In this arena, the arena of ideas, Palin wins hands down.

Her well documented dissection of Obamacare took down the “death panel” provisions in the House legislation. She has created a fire storm that has focused positive attention on the issue even if her detractors are still spewing hatred toward her.

Instead of poking fun at her for being “Caribou Barbie,” liberals are now genuinely angered and anguished over the fact that their malcontent messiah is hitting a rough patch because of her. Suddenly the left is involved in an actual policy debate instead of silly clothing barbs because of her.

She is a major threat to liberalism. The way liberals are becoming more and more unhinged shows they are being affecting by her presence. Her mere existence seems to cause them to reflexively expose their philosophy for the morally and intellectually bankrupt ideology that it really is.

In conclusion, she is the lightening rod that is about to create a “death panel” for liberalism.


UPDATE - Related article: Palin's Popularity in the GOP Soars After Quitting

UPDATE 09/08/09 - Gov. Palin Knew What She Was Doing

UPDATE 01/06/10 - Congressman sees Palin in presidential race "'I thought she had made a career decision that would be hard to bounce back from,' (U.S. Rep. Steve) King said. 'It looks like she's bounced back from it and gone from there.'"

Tuesday, August 11, 2009

DNC: We Have a Problem

Liberals, the liberal media and even elitist conservatives like Peggy Noonan have questioned Sarah Palin's intelligence and interest in the issues. For the left, the barrage is born of a fear and hatrid of someone who threatens to blow their ideology and the political corruption it breeds right out into the open. For the elitist right, this is born out of a fear that if the average commoner demonstrates an ability to grasp conservative insidership, then the elite will no longer own the information. For everyone who falls into these categories: "Houston, we have a problem."

When Sarah Palin stumbled during her interview with Katie Couric, it was the left's opportunity to plug that moment into a smear campaign that had already begun in earnest with the Alaska bloggers, channeled by the Obama campaign directly through his adoring mainstream media. Palin, whose focus was on Alaskan issues, was demonstrating an amazing ability to bring energy interests from all sides to the table in discussing the future of the AGIA natural gas pipeline. But when confronted about Supreme Court decisions that weren't relative to the campaign, she wasn't on it.

Sarah Palin has always been a get it done type of leader. She understood the issues that confronted Alaskans and addressed them. History will show that she did more for Alaska in 2 1/2 years than most governors do in two terms.

Anyone who understands leadership knows that success is more dependent on "brains on tap" than "brains on top." One's ability to recognize a problem and use the cumulative knowledge of experts to find the solution is a success principal that Andrew Carnegie and Napolean Hill have taught since the beginning of the industrial revolution.

However, one thing that many of Palin's detractors missed in their criticism is that she has always been know to be a quick learner, and that when challenged, the "Barracuda" doesn't like to lose. Ronald Reagan had the same trait. When ridiculed and criticized by Jimmy Carter operatives leading into the 1980's primaries, Reagan reacted by sharpening his mind, sharpening his pen and most of all sharpening his tongue.

Now it's Palin's turn. This blogger has always described her as an evolving candidate. Watching Sarah Palin go from Governor, to vice presidential candidate and to potential presidential candidate is like watching the part of Ronald Reagan's political evolution that I missed because I was too young.

For those who don't think she's intelligent, you're in for a big surprise. For those who think she is intelligent, you're in for even a bigger surprise. Sarah Palin is not a figure frozen it time. The experience of a national campaign trail and the strength she gains from withstanding a smear campaign that no other American politician has had to endure is just the beginning.

This blogger has read her letters and writings. She communicates concisely when she needs to and she communicates esoterically when she wants. She can be a straight shooter or she can be a allusionist who uses literary or musical references to make her point. Those who disagree with her can't hear her through their bias, so they ridicule her.

She has turned her Facebook page into a research paper. This blogger is made to feel lazy after reading the amount of research she has done on healthcare reform and Cap and Trade. It just so happens, these are the two biggest issues of the day. If Katie Couric interviewed her now, Palin might just well school her and school her severely.

Ronald Reagan developed his knowledge and political philosophy through his writing. Sarah Palin knows that. Noone needs to tell her to go bone up on issues of the day. Ronald Reagan has already shown her how to do that by his example. She is a student of the master.

Learning what the Heritage Foundation stats are on Cap and Trade or referring to expert writers on the subject of healthcare reform to support her points may look like a great feat for Sarah Palin; but what's even a bigger feat is that she is the first person to completely use what she learns from Ronald Reagan - not just his words, but that "thing" that made him a great leader. She has internalized him.

For it is from the total understanding of Ronald Reagan that she will develop her greatest skills. Citing stats may give her supporters ammunition to attack with, but embracing Reagan's spirit in both mind and heart will be the real key from which she will find greatness.