Palin 2012?
Tuesday, October 28, 2008 at 08:59PM Politics being the brutal sport that it is, the chattering class is already speculating about Sarah Palin's fate should McCain get pummeled lose.
There's generally two schools of thought. Hardcore conservatives believe that she'll be the presumptive front-runner come 2012, perhaps along with Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal and Mitt Romney. The theory goes that Palin proved her mettle on the stump, and while she stumbled in one-on-one media settings, she connected with the Republican rank and file ... and in the end she'll be a stronger and more seasoned candidate.
The other school of thought holds quite the opposite: Palin proved to be a net drag on the ticket, and in the end she'll be forever branded as gaffe-prone lightweight -- a female Dan Quayle. The theory goes that she'll be unable to rehabilitate her lightweight image, much the same way Quayle failed to rehabilitate his.
Of course, all of this goes out the window if McCain should somehow manage to win, but the likelihood of that grows smaller and smaller each day.
It's too early to determine what lies ahead for Palin -- four years can be an eternity in national politics. But there's no doubt that if she wants to make a serious run at the presidency in 2012 -- and at this stage there's no evidence to point one way or the other -- she'll need to strengthen her foreign policy credentials, expand her breadth of issues, and clean the skeletons from her closet. She amassed quite a bit of bagagge during this election, and it'll take at least four years -- if not longer -- for her to shed it ... that is, if she can do it at all.
Reader Comments (6)
IF she even gets reelected governor of AK!
If she ever actually became president, I would have to move to Canada.
Why would you punish the poor Canadians like that, Mitch?
They would welcome me with open arms. And they certainly would see more of my wife, Jessica Alba. So I think they would be thrilled to have me there
Mitchie, can I get you to swear to move to Mexico if McCain wins a week from now?
Sure, why not. I would go to Ixtapa and become a bartender. I love that place