Palin's Ambition

"But we have seen Mrs. Palin on the national stage for seven weeks now, and there is little sign that she has the tools, the equipment, the knowledge or the philosophical grounding one hopes for, and expects, in a holder of high office. She is a person of great ambition, but the question remains: What is the purpose of the ambition?" Peggy Noonan, Wall Street Journal, Oct. 17, 2008

It's clear that the game is over when writers at the Wall Street Journal start questioning Gov. Sarah Palin's credentials. Sarah Palin is a fraud who managed to bamboozle the people of Wasillah, the state of Alaska and presidential candidate John McCain into believing that she is a capable politician.

In the early days, shortly after her addition to the Republican ticket, it was easy to believe that Palin was a good call. She could read well from a teleprompter, she had a story that appealed to the Republican base, and she was drawing loads of attention from the national media. It didn't take long for the veneer of true policy depth to be challenged, incredibly by the simplest of Katie Couric's questions querying Palin about her reading habits.

After eight years of the Bush Administration, a majority of Americans and the mainstream media are waking up to the realization that leadership matters, knowledge matters, and character matters. They had been lulled away from this realization by the prosperous yet scandalous years of the Clinton Administration. During this time, America's cynicism about the personal failings of politicians led many--particularly family values conservatives--to lean toward the guy who seemed to have a stable homelife and to be rooted in his faith. Yet this simplified test of character ignored other evidence suggesting that George W. Bush was an incurious man with little intellectual depth and an inferiority complex that would drive his ambition to make up for the perceived failings of a father who questioned his son's capacities.

Now, eight years later no one can argue that Bush, Jr.'s character flaws had real consequences for the nation. They led us into a disastrous war in Iraq, to a massive failure in governance in the aftermath of Katrina, and to the brink of economic collapse.

These failings bring us back to Sarah Palin. From her barely understandable utterances in media interviews to her bald-faced assertion that she had been found innocent in her state's Troopergate ethics probe which found her guilty, Palin has proven that she too lacks the knowledge or character to make a good leader.

Leading conservative thinkers like Charles Krauthammer, George Will and Peggy Noonan have arrived at a similar conclusion. In her Wall Street Journal column Peggy Noonan questions what drives Sarah Palin's ambitions in light of her obvious political deficits. The answer is as clear as it is telling. Sarah Palin is auditioning for Tina Fey's job as an actress on Saturday Night Live or Thirty Rock.
Palin's seeming deep-seated desire to be a powerful politician is really a desire to be in the spotlight. So far, politics has been the most ready vehicle through which she has been able to channel this ambition. Yet, her continued happy-go-lucky, willing-to-say-anything countenance in a race that is sure to lay the groundwork for her political obituary, suggests that her ambitions are not necessarily connected to her political future.

If the McCain/Palin ticket goes down in flames, many in the Republican Party will point the blame at Palin. She will be treated as toxic waste and abandoned by a party that will be looking for a fresh start in 2012. And, it is likely that her vice presidential run will also undermine her ability to be reelected as governor of the state of Alaska. For she has collected political enemies, many of them within her own party, since ascending to office on a maverick platform that has fingered Republicans for their malfeasance. The combined effects of the political quagmire that is the McCain/Palin ticket and internal Alaska politics are likely to spawn at least one strong challenger in Alaska's next gubernatorial election.

But don't worry about Sarah Palin. If she doesn't become the nation's next Vice President or win reelection as Alaska's governor, she will find her way to the next public platform that feeds her ambition. After all, the New York Times and other sources are reporting on the adoring crowds--prominently featuring admiring men of all ages--who show up at her rallies. With some wearing buttons proclaiming, "Proud to be voting for a hot chick" and Alec Baldwin remarking on her good looks during a recent Saturday Night Live appearance, it is clear that Sarah has the potential to build a fan-base that rivals Angelina Jolie's.

Within the next few weeks we will know whether Washington is out of Palin's reach. But look out Hollywood. The real Sarah Palin may be coming to theaters near you.