Sarah Palin and the Appeal of Quitting
Sarah Palin’s makes perfect sense to me. Though I wouldn’t exactly be surprised if she turned blue, sprouted several additional arms, and decided to become America’s chief advocate of a forceful Hindutva politics, I tend to think she really wants to leave politics behind and perhaps became the evangelical Oprah. One wonders if she’d do well as a radio talk-show host, a difficult and demanding job but one that requires her ease and natural charm.
The Purdum piece suggests that she moved very quickly through the ranks, and that she has a highly aggressive style — hence the “Barracuda” nickname. Think about how totally knackered you’d be after a decade of climbing over the dead bodies of all those who dared stand in your way. Having seen her political ambitions go terribly awry, with a collapsing approval rating and a long string of serious missteps — embarrassing reversals, an insidery-style that’s become a liability — who wouldn’t want to pull the plug and press reset?
My thinking about quitting is related closely to my thinking about sunk cost and the value of good bankruptcy laws, a favorite theme of Megan McArdle. No one wants to be a quitter. But sometimes you should quit! For example, you’re watching a terrible movie. Say you’re watching Tadpole, a movie so horrible that it makes me want to claw out not only my eyes but the eyes of the creators of the movie itself, just to teach them a lesson. Do you endure the whole thing? I did, and I’ve regretted it ever since.
Sarah Palin had a sense of how this movie was going to an end. Was this unfair to the people who put her in office? Actually, I’m pretty sure a lot of them are relieved. She’s presumably developed broader interests. Her thin-skinnedness doesn’t lend itself well to intense national scrutiny, particularly since she comes from a small-town political culture where cutting corners happens all the time. It turns out that she was, for purposes of personal happiness and fulfillment, in the wrong line of work.
I sincerely think she’d make an excellent television personality. I found her statement affecting. But yes, I can’t imagine she’d be a great president or senator, and those were the logical next steps in this career trajectory.
She could “hunker down” and “get down to business” for the balance of her term — but she’s lost interest! That happens! And to soldier on can be pretty unendurable.
We’re talking about human beings, man.
Reihan, yesterday’s “Dinosaur Comics” (at www.qwantz.com) had a truly glorious rap in it that made me think, oddly, of you. Do indulge (to see the rap in question you have to let the cursor sit over the picture for a sec…)
— Sanjay · Jul 4, 02:49 PM · #
everyone just seems befuddled. though some of the paid punditry are trying to fake comprehension ;-)
— razib · Jul 4, 03:12 PM · #
I guess if you drop the assumption that this is part of some grand scheme to win a federal elected office, then what Palin’s done isn’t all that unreasonable. She could still be a loud voice in the country and it’s politics. She can’t be the queen, but she can be a king-maker.
— Consumatopia · Jul 4, 04:06 PM · #
It’s true that human beings can change their minds and lose interest in something. But we’re talking about a first term state governor. This is someone who we recently were seriously considering for the position of vice president of the United States. Elected officials are grownups. When we elect them to office we are expecting them to act like responsible adults. That means that even if you lose interest in something or it becomes harder to do for some reason, you suck it up and do it anyway because it’s your job and your constituents voted for you to do that job and represent them. You finish out your term; she’s only been in office for what, 2.5 years? In this case, it might have been a relief for Alaskans (I don’t know, I don’t live in Alaska), but this still strikes as a kind of immature thing to do.
If there is some illness in her family or some scandal brewing I can understand her leaving, but otherwise, well, I’m just glad we dodged the bullet of having her quit on us at a national level.
I do agree that she would be awesome as a conservative Oprah with her own daytime talk show on Fox. She would get really good ratings.
— ps · Jul 4, 05:13 PM · #
Being in the process of raising a child with a developmental disability myself, my guess is that she wants to do something that will allow her more flexibility and family time. I would be shocked if she were to run for President.
— Joules · Jul 4, 06:51 PM · #
Let us not forget John McCain. It is all well and good for Palin to quit if exposure to a national audience has altered the way she feels about her current duties, and she sincerely does not want to be a politician anymore. But it was less than a year ago that John McCain assured us that she was the best-qualified person to be the vice president of the country. Liberals who suggested that this showed shockingly poor judgment for a potential president were criticized for being mean, or out of touch, or elitist. If Reihan is right, and she is done with politics, then there’s no way to avoid the conclusion that McCain’s selection was unusually terrible.
— Martin · Jul 4, 08:01 PM · #
if Palin is given a media platform like a cable TV show, I think Mr.Salam’s endeavor to thrust intelligence and seriousness into the GOP will become all the more difficult. She’ll be the eye-candy version of Rush and no doubt will feel at home amidst the Hefneresque Fembots on Fox News. Salamism’s most potent foe in terms of determining the GOP orientation and weltshauung could very well be the Palinism of tomorrow.
— JB · Jul 4, 09:49 PM · #
I’m sorry, but there is really just one question I’d like to have answered:
Why are so many apparently educated people in such shockingly obvious denial about Sarah Palin?
Even after the short Fellini movie yesterday, it’s as if nothing has changed.
Talk show host? Are you kidding me?
Wouldn’t the first requirement for that job be some minimal ability to speak coherently?
— just some guy with an opinion · Jul 4, 11:35 PM · #
“Say you’re watching Tadpole, a movie so horrible that it makes me want to claw out not only my eyes but the eyes of the creators of the movie itself, just to teach them a lesson. Do you endure the whole thing?”
Perhaps you and I have different sets of valuations, but I guess I’d rather claw their eyes out before mine, and having clawed their eyes out, I might consider myself done.
— anon · Jul 5, 04:52 PM · #
It’s an open secret here in LA that William Morris (now WME2), ICM, and CAA have been in a bidding war for the past few months to turn her into exactly this, in so many words.
— j · Jul 5, 07:19 PM · #
“How sad that Washington and the media will never understand; it’s about country. And though it’s honorable for countless others to leave their positions for a higher calling and without finishing a term, of course we know by now, for some reason a different standard applies for the decisions I make.”
Are these really the words of a potential president? Or a potential talk show host? Or are these the words of someone who is seriously confused, or, possibly, not entirely sane?
Why do smart people continue to make excuses for this nonsense?
— just some guy with an opinion · Jul 5, 11:25 PM · #
You single out 2002’s Tadpole for such wretchedness that you would sooner go Oedipus than sit through the whole thing? If your Netflix queue is so selective that the worst movie you’ve seen in seven years is Tadpole, I’m impressed. But, c’mon, it wasn’t that bad, and anyway it doesn’t even clock in at 80 minutes.
And frankly, your analogy is weak. As a dude on a sofa, your role in Tadpole was passive. You had no responsibility to Tadpole. You had no control over Tadpole, no capacity in which to make it more bearable. So, of course you wished you hadn’t wasted your time on it— you had no obligations to it. Palin, of course, is/was in a position to do something with Alaska. She’s not a simple spectator. She’s the governor, and she had a lousy 18 months left— that’s not even an eighty-minute movie in a political career. An adult doesn’t storm out; she watches the trailers carefully and chooses better the next time.
— turnbuckle · Jul 6, 12:03 AM · #
She is a person and has a family, but I have little sympathy for her (a lot more sympathy for her poor kids). She is a complete fake and fraud, somehow lucked her way into office and then got exposed. She did it becasue she likes people taking pictures of her and the perks of office. She didn’t give a crap about he actual responsibilites of office or the effect her lack of interst in governing had on the people who voted for her, any more than Mobutu Sese Seko cared about good government. It was all just for pesonal agrandizment. I think there is some kind of genuine character disorder there.
I also think she will eventually be indicted for something similar to what they tried to get Ted Stevens for. It fits the personality type.
— cw · Jul 6, 05:04 AM · #
Reihan I am just sick and tired of this.
Just say what she is and accept responsibility for your part in the destruction the GOP.
“It’s this insane idea that if you want something to happen, you will also of course agree that it WILL happen, and if you don’t agree it will happen, obviously you don’t wnat it to happen.
In other words, if you’re cheering for one side, you must of course believe that side will win, and if you suggest our side won’t win, well, gee, you must be cheering AGAINST us.
It’s insane. I wanted thte Giants to win against the Eagles in the playoffs, but I predicted they’d lose, because the Eagles had their number and they were coming apart at the seems. They did lose, for the reasons I guessed (I think). That did not mean I wasn’t “on their side,” I’ve been on the Giants’ side all my life.
But there is a mentality in the nutroots that if you dare to post a poll showing republicans down and say “we’re in trouble, we need a game-changer,” well, that means you’re secretly rooting against our side.
And if you say that Fred Thompson isn’t catching on as hoped, well, you hate Fred Thomson.
And if you do not believe that Sarah Palin has some double-secret probation plan for the presidency, you must hate her too, and you’re rooting against her, and cheering for the other side.
This is fucking insane and it must stop. I will not be bullied by this ludicrous magical thinking brigade who insists that only Nice and Positive Words must be uttered or else one is contributing one’s Evil Energy to the Wrong Side.
It’s insane.
I disagree with you. I have tried to do so pleasantly but I am tired of the imputation of bad motive simply because I am more realistic and less prone to flights of hopeful fancy than you.
If you think I’m wrong, say so (like eman). I do not mind being called wrong. I do, however, greatly mind being called a traitor, of harboring a secret agenda I hide from you in order to advance the MSM’s interests, etc., and all the rest of this insane bullshit.
Someone can be wrong HONESTLY, without the need of claiming he’s wrong dishonestly, wrong because he’s actively intending to subvert the cause (so he can of course get invited to these famous DC dinner parties, etc.)
Stop jumping to claim some one is not just wrong but actively malicious.
It’s insane. It’s fruit fucking loops. and it’s tiresome.
And I do think I am taking off the week. You guys only seem to want to talk about sarah palin and furthermore you only want to hear the same thing — she’s running, this is a great move, she’s now perfectly poised for the race, etc.
It’s nonsense. And I hardly need to blog about it, because you all seem to know the words to the song. So you don’t need me as part of the chorus. You can sing the same words well enough without me.
I am really tired of this relentless nonsense and occasional nastiness whenever someone is believed to have departed from the conservativey correct line. “
.
— matoko_chan · Jul 6, 02:15 PM · #
No one’s calling you a traitor, Matoko – no one’s even talking to you. (Except now).
— J Mann · Jul 6, 03:11 PM · #
That was conservative pundit Ace of Spades, not meh.
Reihan, own it and deal.
The Empress is fuckin’ nekkid.
— matoko_chan · Jul 6, 03:26 PM · #
And here is a different lesson to be learned than from Douthat’s creepy apologia.
You can’t fake the substrate.
— matoko_chan · Jul 6, 03:37 PM · #
matoko: Nicely done.
For the record, I think Palin would be toast if she ran for anything now, but I wish her well and hope she cashes in on Fox.
— J Mann · Jul 6, 05:06 PM · #
She belongs on Fox.
Just like Michelle Malkin and Ann Coulter and Glenn Beck.
Where she doesn’t belong is in the WH.
— matoko_chan · Jul 6, 05:13 PM · #
Can’t fake the substrate.
sowwy, bad link.
The conservative failboat is taking on water as long as Palin occupies real estate on the political landscape.
— matoko_chan · Jul 6, 05:20 PM · #
Reihan, at what point do you and Ross abandon your attempted graceful climbdown from the fantasy position that Palin was a flawed candidate sandbagged by “elites”?
If Palin could have been Elle Woods or Alex Owens America would have absolutely loved her.
She never had the substrate and she can never develop the substrate.
You need to get the base off the Sarah Palin crack you have been dealing them.
Like I said, Palin has exposed the Great Lie at the heart of the GOP.
Not all men (or women) are created equal.
A viable political party needs elites.
Palin just rubbed everybody’s nose in it.
— matoko_chan · Jul 6, 07:19 PM · #
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— wxg · Jul 12, 03:08 PM · #