Sarah Palin Announces Her Resignation

Gov. Sarah Palin, 45, who ran with John McCain as the Republican VP, has reportedly announced that she will be stepping down at the end of this month. At times in her speech, it was difficult to understand why Mrs. Palin was doing this, as some may see this as quitting. She supposed that she could “fight for all our children’s future from outside the governor’s office.”Although difficult to completely understand without assumptions about a run for President in 2012, Palin gave her reasons.

“As I thought about this announcement that I would not seek re-election,” she said, “I thought about how much fun other governors have as lame ducks. They maybe travel around their state, travel to other states, maybe take their overseas international trade missions.”

“I’m not going to put Alaskans through that,” she said. “I promised efficiencies and effectiveness. That’s not how I’m wired. I’m not wired to operate under the same old politics as usual.”

These rather odd comments by Palin  come at a time when the Republican party is still looking to gain stability and a more unanimous message.

Misattributing to Gen. Douglas MacArthur, Palin actually quoted Maj. Gen. Oliver Prince Smith saying “He said, ‘We’re not retreating; we are advancing in another direction.”

Ms. Palin is among a number of governors who are possible candidates for the Republican presidential nomination in 2012. This news comes after Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty announced that he will not run for re-election in 2010. Quitting midterm, as Palin is in the process of doing, is unusual. Speculatory comments have been made about what led her to leave. One, flaoting about in Palin’s own Party, was that she had realized how erratic she is as a politician.

“Good point guards don’t quit and walk off the floor if the going gets tough,” said John Weaver, a former senior strategist for Mr. McCain. “Today’s move falls further into the weirdness category; people don’t like a quitter.” The  distance of Alaska from the rest of the country cramped her ability to do the essntial kind of presidential preparation work such as Republican Party dinners or networking of fund-raisers and supporters.

Ms. Palin also signed a contract to write a book. “I think she is trying to determine how she can better get to where she’d like to be,” said Speaker Mike Chenault of the Alaska Legislature. “And she figures that if she resigns, people can’t be taking so many potshots at her.”

It caught everybody by surprise,” said a former Alaska House majority leader, Ralph Samuels. “I’ve had a million calls today from friends, all political junkies, and everyone is asking the same questions: Is it national ambition, or does she want time to write the book, or is she just tired of it? Don’t have a clue.”

John Coale, a Democrat who helped Ms. Palin create her political action committee, said had no forward notice of this action.

“She didn’t even tell her brother,” Mr. Coale also said.

Lyda Green, a Republican and former president of the Alaska Senate who is from Ms. Palin’s hometown, said she took the announcement as confirmation that Ms. Palin was running for president in 2012.

“The longer she stays in, the more people become disenchanted and see something they hadn’t seen before,” Ms. Green said. “This has been a pretty precipitous fall.”