Governor Sarah Palin (R-AK) is evidently working on her memoirs. Good on ya, sister: it's hell trying to get a book published.
Sadly for the Republicans, this is, as the song goes, "Too Much, Too Young, Too Fast."
Aside from the obvious scorn given to her inexperience (and yes, I thought Obama's memoir was also premature, albeit plenty deep), this is another move that threatens to shove Gov. Palin away from the path of Long, Storied Political Career to 15-Minute Footnote.
We all know the back story: high school athlete, beauty queen, multiple colleges, early party loyalist, small-town mayor, governor...If she had gone through 2008 still in Juneau, she could have seriously been considered what she is now - a rising star in the conservative movement - without the baggage she earned last fall - ill-prepared, opportunistic diva.
Palin likely was thinking of a long and national political future before John McCain was told by his staffers to call her up to the co-pilot spot on the ticket. Her exposure to the national spotlight, however, only fed that ambition and launched that national drive years early.
Consider a likely alternate history if Palin had been passed over last summer: She would have stayed in Alaska, helping deliver the state to the GOP on election night, and possibly making local statements regarding scandal-plagued locals such as Ted Stevens and Don Young, either solidifing a reputation as a reformer by attacking them or her standing in the party by backing them. If she had stuck with Stevens publicly, with her high approval, he may have survived on Election Night.
The Redoubt Volcano could have been an event that gave her a quick, non-critical look at the attractive, folksy executive dealing with a crisis. Instead of being on the short list in 2012 for President, she would be either planning for a blowout re-election in the governor's race or a strong and likely successful primary challenge for Linda Murkowski's Senate seat, giving her six full years of D.C. work, connections and airtime. Cable News would have eaten her up with a spoon. With executive, Beltway and media experience - and just a few gray hairs on that early-50's crown - a 2016 run by Palin would be a formidable one.
But she got bitten by the attention bug. Those first few weeks as McCain's arm candy put her in a spot that she otherwise would have seen years afterward. Her interviews exposed her as unprepared to say the least, and her first few contacts with Beltway Republicans were a rough ride. It looked like an 18-year-old right hander being put on the mound for the World Series after only 4 months of Double A in Tulsa.
Even after the run, Palin could have taken a cue. "I need to get back home and take care of my state. I might try this later," She could have said. Instead, the campaign never stopped. She stayed in the lower 48, started a PAC, and amassed her allies in the GOP machinery. Meanwhile, her approval ratings in Alaska fell from a near-messianic high 80's to the mid 50's. For a governor, that's troublesome. For a Republican in Alaska, it's frightening.
For Sarah Palin, instant gratification is now her eternal opponent. Getting tapped for the ticket sent her the message that all you needed is less than a decade of cakewalk elections, and literally sit there and look pretty. Kennedy, Obama, and Roosevelt are rare developments in the political history of the U.S. If Palin had turned down the spotlight in the last year, us on the left could have been looking at her with concern in four years rather than laughter now.