Wherever Palin is going, she won't be going quietly

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By Mike Peters (China Daily)
Updated: 2009-07-28 10:23

"Ain't gonna shut my mouth / I know there's got to be a few hundred million more like me / just trying to keep it free."

That's about as close as Sarah Palin, former Republican candidate for US vice-president and now former governor of Alaska, has come to explaining why she recently shocked the US political scene with her resignation.

She quoted the lyrics, from the song Rollin' by the country-Western duo Big & Rich, on a recent Tweet. She has about 100,000 fans on Twitter - but the big question is what she hopes to accomplish next.

Wherever Palin is going, she won't be going quietly
Alaska Governor Sarah Palin waves to well-wishers while serving hot dogs at the annual Governor's Picnic in Fairbanks, Alaska, July 26, 2009. [Agencies]

Like other journalists who recently worked in Alaska, I'm frequently asked to "explain" Palin.

I can't.

Craig Medred, a former colleague at the Anchorage Daily News, says it's a waste of time to speculate about what Palin is thinking.

"How about this?" he wrote after her surprise resignation announcement on July 3. "She wasn't thinking."

"You don't prove you're a fighter by quitting," he wrote, echoing other critics. "You don't lead by taking a seat on the bench. You don't advance the game, or change the game, or even influence the game by getting out of the game."

Some of her reasons for stepping aside, not finishing her term and not seeking re-election are understandable. She is clearly sick of what she calls an attack media that she thinks is preying on her family. She wants to break free of the noisy, messy political process that often moves in circles rather than forward.

She also doesn't want to be a "lame duck". (Bloggers wonder if she would bother to run for re-election if she ever won the presidency.)

But if Palin really wants to use the time off to rebuild her image, learning to "shut my mouth" is probably exactly what she needs to do.

Her polling negatives are rising - especially in Alaska - because she reacts instantly and loudly to every criticism, fair and otherwise. Her reputation for smart bipartisanship in Alaska is gone. Critics, including some former supporters, see her as a name-calling kid on a playground as she tried to outshout her opponents, many of whom would have faded away long ago if she could "shut my mouth".

A New York Times columnist recently described one of her potential rivals for the presidency, former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee, as "Palin Lite". But the opposite is true: Huckabee is an accomplished executive and a man of ideas - whether you agree with them or not - that he can articulate beyond bumper-sticker slogans.

Palin, meanwhile, is a victim of her own celebrity despite being a bright and accomplished woman. No longer governor, she'll be famous simply for being famous. Making herself the Paris Hilton of politics is an unlikely way to reshape America.

The writer is international news editor at China Daily.

Palin's Life & career

Born on February 11, 1964 in Sandpoint, Idaho, Palin was the third of four children born to Sarah and Charles R. Heath, respectively a school secretary and science teacher/track coach. The family moved to Alaska when she was an infant.

Having won the Miss Wasilla pageant, she finished third in the 1984 Miss Alaska pageant, receiving the "Miss Congeniality" award and a college scholarship. After attending five different colleges in a six-year span of time, with less than two semesters at most, she received a B.S. in communications with an emphasis in journalism from the University of Idaho in May 1987.

Palin's early ambition was to be a sportscaster. Accordingly, after graduating, she worked as a sportscaster for KTUU-TV and KTVA-TV in Anchorage, and as a sports reporter for the Mat-Su Valley Frontiersman. In 1988, she eloped with her childhood sweetheart Todd Palin, believing that her parents "couldn't afford a big white wedding." After the marriage, she helped in her husband's commercial fishing business.

Palin was a member of the Wasilla, Alaska, city council from 1992 to 1996 and the city's mayor from 1996 to 2002. After an unsuccessful campaign for lieutenant governor of Alaska in 2002, she chaired the Alaska Oil and Gas Conservation Commission from 2003 until her resignation in 2004. She was elected Governor of Alaska in November 2006. Palin was the first female governor of Alaska and the youngest person ever elected governor of that state.

(The writer is international news editor at China Daily.)