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So what’s next in the future of Sarah Palin?

By Jared Felkins
The Times-Journal

Published July 29, 2009

It would have been but a blip on the national media map for an Alaska governor to give up her post. After all, it is Alaska.

But Sarah Palin’s announcement Sunday has many political experts wondering what’s in store for the former Republican vice presidential hopeful.

“With this decision, now, I will be able to fight even harder for you, for what is right, and for truth. And I have never felt that you need a title to do that,” Palin said.

Some speculate the decision sets Palin up for a future in television political commentary. Others say she’s taking her criticism of Democrats and the news media on the road as a public speaker. Still others believe Palin is setting up for a run at the 2012 Republican nomination for president.

But is choosing to be a quitter the right choice?

According to the Associated Press, Palin, 45, said she was resigning with more than a year left in her first term to take her political battles to a larger if unspecified stage and avoid an unproductive, lame duck status.

Palin called her 2 1/2-year tenure as governor a success, citing efforts to take on the state’s long-dominant oil industry and progress on development of a natural gas pipeline. She also cited ethics reform, but said “ironically, it needs additional reform” to stop partisan and frivolous complaints such as those that have dogged her in the past year.

Palin leaves office with her political future clouded by ethics probes, mounting legal bills and dwindling popularity. She has been targeted by nearly 20 ethics complaints filed by Alaska residents, most of which have been resolved in her favor. She did not refer directly to the ethics complaints in her 19-minute speech, but has repeatedly cited the financial and psychological toll of those investigations as a key reason she is stepping down, the AP reported.

Her vow to always work for Alaska seems a bit ironic. Saying her departure would spare Alaska an unproductive, “politics as usual” lame-duck session is almost like a batter not stepping up to the plate because it’s likely he’ll strike out.

The AP reported her first order of business as a private citizen is to speak Aug. 8 at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in California. She also wants to campaign for political candidates from coast to coast, and continue to speak her mind on the social networking site Twitter, one of her favorite venues to reach out to supporters.

And supporters she has. The former governor is raking in thousands in donations to a cause that may not even come full circle as a political career.

But who knows? Palin has about two years before it’s time for presidential campaigns to start, as far as presidential campaigns go these days. She’s got the gumption. And you betcha, we’ve not seen the last of Sarah Palin.

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