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How do you solve a problem like Sarah...Palin?
At present, she's visible, taking a 'One Nation' bus tour around the Northeast, and offering minor sport to elitists who believe that patriotic figure Paul Revere warned Americans the British were coming, rather than vice versa. Is she running? No! She's travelling.
Found herself in New Hampshire the other day. Not such a big deal, only another Republican happened to be in the state at the same time, front runner Mitt Romney (whom another recent poll suggests is neck and neck with Obama: bye-bye Bin Laden bounce).
Many points of difference lie between Romney and Palin, but if you blended them, like a political Frankenstein, you'd create the ideal candidate: someone who understands populism, but can talk policy, stroppy but thoughtful, a warrior poetess.
The chief difference at present between Romney and Palin is that he has declared his candidacy for 2012.
Because Palin has made no such representation, people keep asking, "Will you run?" She fobs the question off. No! Well, maybe...This bus could go all the way to Iowa, she's said. Iowa's where US presidential campaigns traditionally begin.
Please, Sarah, just do it.
As someone who has battled a savage love of inactivity all his life, I've been praying she'll run. I can set the gaffe-o-meter to autopilot, fill the paddling pool with Scotch and ride out the summer.
Sarah Palin's story hasn't changed in the past two and a half years. She's an outsider, detested by the 'lamestream' media; she utters unpalatable truths. Her fans love her. Everyone wins.
The trouble with this script is that politicians require support. Even if they have the kind of support elitists like to sneer at, that's still something. And Sarah Palin's poll numbers are terrible. The latest Washington Post measure has almost two thirds of Americans saying they wouldn't vote for her.
Fair enough, so you just fire up the base, call Obama a commie, and make it a partisan election.
Problem with that scenario is that Palin remains an immensely divisive force within the Republican party.
The Washington Post has 42 per cent of Republicans saying they wouldn't vote for her. Some rank and file love her. I mean really love her.
She's a visceral politician, and she attracts strong and passionate, if somewhat confused, responses.
But the Palinistas amount to about 14 per cent of Republicans. Republican whales, the people that write the cheques, and make stuff and pay for election campaigns think she's an idiot.
Just today Ed Rollins, a GOP wise man who ran Mike Huckabee's campaign in 2008 (not spectacular credentials, but you take what you can) said Sarah Palin wasn't a serious candidate.
He's just signed up to run the campaign for Tea Party favourite Michelle Bachmann. You'll be hearing more about that name, I'm certain, and with the US economy looking like it's double dipping, President Obama looks vulnerable.
Read more Tim Wilson opinion
here.
Do you agree with Tim Wilson? Have your say on the messageboard below.
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Post new commentIrishFellaInNZ said on 2011-06-08 @ 15:30 NZDT: Report abusive post
Sarah Palin is a walking joke and a comedian's best friend. But lets be honest, the fact that ANYONE in America votes for the Republican Party at all amazes me. There has probably only ever been 2 decent Republican presidents in the entire country's history - what is going on?