So long Sarah.

I’m not sure if any of you were surprised by Sarah Palin’s decision to step down as Governor of Alaska this past weekend, but I was absolutely stunned.

Stunned because she strikes me as the type of person that truly enjoys sticking it to her detractors (an admirable trait in my mind) and nothing would accomplish that better than unabashedly staying in office and conducting business as usual.

But that really wasn’t possible for Palin. The business of Alaska was being needlessly interrupted by numerous, frivolous ethics investigations concocted by her political enemies to smear her good name (In fact, in the 15 cases she has had to defend herself, she has been exonerated in all 15). Her personal life was becoming too much of a distraction as she (truthfully) and numerous members of the media were seemingly obsessed with the Palin story. She also seemed to be torn between her duties in Alaska and her aspirations of becoming a larger, national leader.

So she quit, leaving her political future as muddled as a Joe Biden policy explanation.

I cannot say that I blame her, but unlike many commentators, I think this buries her chances at her becoming president and I don’t really know if that is a bad thing or not.

I like Sarah Palin, I like her rags to riches story, I like her feistiness and I like her stances on some issues, but am I ready to jump on board the Palin bandwagon for president?

Absolutely not.

This is mainly due to the fact that I don’t really know where she stands on a lot of issues.

Does she have a firm grasp of the critical budgetary and economic issues facing our nation and the world? I don’t know.

Does she have enough foreign policy savvy to strengthen our relationships with our allies or repair the ones with our enemies? Beats me.

Can she rally moderate republicans in Congress to adhere to a true conservative agenda? Perhaps, but probably not.

Now in all fairness to her, I’m not sure that any prospective 2012 republican nominees are capable of achieving the above goals, but I’m not exactly high on any of them either…not yet at least.

The bottom line for me with Palin is her level of experience and I, frankly, don’t think she has enough to be president. I know some of you are probably shouting, “Obama had less experience than she did!”

True… but where has that gotten us?

I know that, if she chooses, she now has roughly three years to tour the country, make alliances with republicans from coast-to-coast, become more familiar with issues without being hamstrung by her responsibilities in Alaska and emerge as a national, conservative leader. This could position her nicely for 2012, but I don’t think it will play out that way.

She will be hounded by the press (fairly) for leaving office early and (unfairly) for her supposed family scandals. I think this will ultimately be the thing that prevents her from making a serious run at the presidency and I think that is incredibly sad. Sad in the sense that she has been so unfairly demonized in the press and by operatives within the McCain campaign that depicted her as aloof, stupid, crazy and, frankly, a bitch.

You know, I am used to the media mistreating conservatives, but her treatment from the McCain camp really doesn’t sit well with me. I can tell you that the, literal, only time I was ever excited about the McCain campaign was when he named her as his VEEP candidate. She was not the reason they lost, rather it was the fact he was a poor candidate with a meandering message and a rudderless campaign.

As I said, I am not sure that I would have supported her, but I think she should be given the opportunity, the fair opportunity, to run if she chose. However, due to the personal attacks by the media and the coordinated efforts by democrat and republican operatives alike to destroy her reputation, I don’t think she’ll get the chance.

And I think that that is how the Sarah Palin story will end, as a footnote or cautionary tale for some and a punch line and object of scorn for others.

I think she deserved better than that.

That’s all for now folks. Until next time, take care and be well.

-John