Reversal: Palin Doesn’t Call For Stevens To Resign
By Justin Gardner | Related entries in 2008 Election, Alaska, Palin, Senate
Now she’s deferring to others, which is the same as backing away from her previous statements without explicitly saying as much.
This is a pretty big development, and one that signals Palin’s unwillingness to cede the Senate seat to a Democrat. Because Stevens challenger Mark Begich would obviously be the favorite if Stevens is forced to resign and a special election has to be called.
Her pushback against critics got most of the attention, but Sarah Palin’s chat with Alaska reporters yesterday also included some other important news: She no longer thinks Ted Stevens, who was convicted on felony charges last month, should resign his post, a reversal from her stance during the campaign.Palin is in a difficult spot here. She’s trying to balance home-state political imperatives — not wanting to unduly offend Stevens’ many supporters ahead of her own reelection — without damaging her reformer brand ahead of a potential 2012 presidential bid.
For now, it seems as though the former is taking precedence.
What strikes me is that there’s so much drama surrounding her in such a small amount of time. Why is that? Can she not look ahead a few moves and see some of this coming?
And to that point, one of the most important traits of a good leader is being able to anticipate the trends so you can get in front of them. Sure, nobody’s omniscient, but this is where gut instinct is key. Bush was obviously deficient in this respect, but Obama looks as if he could be the exact opposite.
And then there’s Palin, who perhaps should have recognized where she was in her political career and not agreed to be the VP pick. All I’m saying is this entire situation doesn’t bode well for people to trust her decision making skills.
More as it develops…
This entry was posted on Saturday, November 8th, 2008 and is filed under 2008 Election, Alaska, Palin, Senate. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
November 8th, 2008 at 5:55 pm
Palin’s reversal is what’s disappointing, not her political gamesmanship. Stevens should resign. That should be her - and other leading Republicans’ - top priority.