Breaking News: Sarah Palin Resigns as Alaska’s Governor

By: Nina Jones

In today’s press conference, Governor Sarah Palin announced that she will step down and relinquish her governorship to Lieutenant Governor Sean Parnell, who will be sworn in on July 26^th. The National Review Online published a transcript of her speech:

 

I am determined to take the right path for Alaska even though it is not the easiest path,” said Governor Palin after the announcement.  “Once I decided not to run for re-election, I also felt that to embrace the conventional ‘Lame Duck’ status in this particular climate would just be another dose of ‘politics as usual,’ something I campaigned against and will always oppose.  It is my duty to always protect our great state.  With that in mind, my family and I determined that it is best to make a difference this summer, and I am willing to change things, so that this administration, with its positive agenda, its accomplishments, and its successful road to an incredible future, can continue without interruption and with great administrative and legislative success.  I look forward to helping others – to fight for our state and our country, and campaign for those who believe in smaller government, free enterprise, strong national security, support for our troops, and energy independence…

 

This announcement comes after months of fighting numerous ethics complaints (Palin came out victorious in all of them) that took a heavy toll on her state and her role as governor. Alaska has had to pay $2 million in legal defense of their governor who, in turn, has had to spend a great deal of her time battling these complaints in lieu of doing good work for the state and the people. In light of these facts, she concluded that her stepping down is in “Alaska’s best interest,” also stating, “I cannot stand here as your governor and allow the millions of dollars and all that time go to waste just so I can hold the title of governor.”

 

As she stated above, this was a decision that was reached not just by her, but also her husband and children. She cited, as one of multiple reasons for leaving office, “the family’s reaction to the mockery of Trig.” Acting both as a political figure and as a mother, Sarah Palin has had to combat an array of scrutiny and insults, listening to the likes of Chris Matthews, David Letterman, and Levi Johnston poke fun at her religious views, her wardrobe, her looks, and her family. Untruths have had to be debunked on a regular basis, almost daily during her run as a vice presidential candidate. The magnifying glass may have pressed so heavily on Palin and her family that they all agreed (one of them with a resounding “hell yea!”) that this was the best decision for her to make.

 

Much of the press she has received has been, despite what the mainstream media claims, undesired, unwelcome, and far after her very public stint in the 2008 presidential election. Most recently, Vanity Fair published an article by Todd S. Purdum entitled “It Came From Wasilla.” Disguised as hard hitting journalism and bordered by advertisements of outtakes from the Twilight photo shoot and a link to a catalog of every appearance by Johnny Depp in Vanity Fair, it was essentially a piece of fluff that recycled the same talking points heard and read over and over since last August and offered nothing but 10,000 words of unsubstantiated dribble. For the many questions Purdum poses to his readers, only one comes to mind for me: Why, if she must be stopped, are you impeding a withdrawal from politics that, even before her resignation, was quite plausible?

 

The news of her departure from the governorship raises many questions, like the obvious: what will she do next? Palin reassures the public that she wants to create “positive change outside government,” but in what way? Is she eyeing a Senate seat? The Oval Office? Or does the phrase “outside government” suggest that mainstream political involvement is not in her future? Considering the strange abruptness in which she has chosen to resign her post and the intensity of her reassurance to Alaskan citizens, the press, and the American people that this is just another fork in the road, it is clear that she isn’t retreating into the shadows just yet.

 

Is this a mistake? Or is the best thing for the troubled Republican Party? As of now, I am undecided on how I feel and how this will affect a senate or presidential run. And while I understand her reasons for leaving, it seems that something specific happened to trigger this decision or she has imminent plans for her future. In my opinion, it is, along with the manner in which she reemerges onto the political scene, the reaction of Alaskans and how (or if) the state progresses under Parnell that will determine her favor with the conservative movement and the country.

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