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Let me start by sharing that I like Governor Sarah Palin. Yes, I know she's no longer governor of the Great State of Alaska, but I was raised that you call a person who was a head of state by their former title, hence I will refer to her as Governor Sarah Palin. But it's the "former" tag that will keep her out of office for a good long time.
As Governor of Alaska, and the GOP Vice Presidential Candidate, I firmly believed that Governor Palin was a political star of the future but as an independent. I fully
expected Palin to resign from the GOP in the middle of the presidential campaign because of all of her problems, but she stuck it out mainly by fighting with McCain Campaign elites.
Sarah Palin
Gov. Palin was treated terribly by the staff of the McCain Campaign and it's really because she was not cut from the elitist cloth that Americans have come to expect from their elected officials.
Her new book "Going Rogue" is proof of what I've expected all along: that Governor Palin didn't want to learn how to be an effective politician at the highest levels of office. Like any member of the masses who obtains a little power and attention, it overcame the larger responsibility of governing and so she jettisoned being Alaska's leader.
By contrast, elite elected officials rise to power because they have an overarching sense of purpose that involves true social change focused more on helping people than a party or a group. The lynchpin idea of Ronald Reagan's assent to power was that government had become too large and inefficient at a time that America didn't need goverment spending to supercharge the economy.
Reagan tapped into an idea that Americans were overtaxed and bullied. He caught that political lightening in a bottle and used it to form a conservative revolution that lasted 25 years. But over that time the offshoring of industry weakened America's economy and now we're in a position where without government spending the country's financial system would have collapsed.
Exactly the wrong time to call for "smaller government." No elite is asked for this. No Republican or Democrat in power will tell you that we don't need the stimulus program, but will tell you that money's not getting our fast enough for their areas. That's an elite agreement on the policy direction for America to repair its economy.
It's exactly what Governor Palin's advocating against and why Alaskan's were angry with her for
rejecting about 30 percent of stimulus money. At first Palin's "logic" was that Alaska's oil revenues would help make up the difference, but that over $2,000 per Alaskan check reduced to about half that in 2009.
Palin's other message in rejecting the money was that it was to go to "grow government" but that's where the Governor showed that she flunked Economics 101.
In Economics 101, we learn that Gross Domestic Product equals spending from Consumers, Investments, Government, and Exports, minus Imports. So what happens when the "C" or "Consumers" can't spend as much? We have a weaker economy and the "G" - that's Government - is used to make up the difference.
That's where we are today and why so many Alaskans thought Governor Palin lost her mind when she threw back part of the stimulus money. Again, her attempt to channel Ronald Reagan - who had the voice of elites because economic conditions in the 80s favored his message - failed because his ideas are wrong for today.
Elites understand this and are interested only in solving the economic problem. Ideologs like Palin certainly tap into a point of view held, frankly, by a group of the masses that are not elite, but that's the problem.
Gov. Palin has become a kind of repository for the hopes and fears of the undereducated mostly white American masses. And that is why Governor Palin will never be taken seriously as a political candidate in the near future, even by her own supporters. Elites form policy direction and have done so. Palin's message is outside of that of the power elite because it doesn't help solve the problems they're dealing with.
So what happens? She's caractured. Made fun of. Her family issues take center stage with former future son-in law Levi Johnston posting nude and talking to everyone with a TV camera. All of this, but no real talk of Palin as the serious GOP Presidential candidate. If Palin remained as Governor, and learned to play the elite game, she would have been a shoe-in.
Now, Palin's best chance to be take seriously is an an independent party candidate. But the minute that parade of Ralph Naders and Lyndon La Rouches comes out of the gate, her value will diminish yet again.
When the words "
kook" and "
fringe" are written in the same paragraph as your name, and that becomes a constant Saturday Night Live punch-line, your chances of really getting elected are toast.
"Going Rogue" has made Palin a millionaire, but it's also rendered her unelectable and out of touch with America's problems and the Power Elite. Governor Palin would be happy not to be associated with the last group, the Power Elite , but that is why she's failed as an elected official.
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