Palin: The Solution

On reflection, I don't think it's really so very complicated. At bottom it's about $$$.

On reflection, I don't think it's really so very complicated. At bottom it's about $$$. 2009-2011 will be her peak years for speaking fees. If she runs for president in 2012, she'll be obliged to cut back her paid speeches in the fall of 2011, and if she does not run, her speaking fees will dwindle away soon after. Palin has visibly lost interest in the governor's job and she's fed up with criticism. She assumes or hopes that the Republican nomination will still be available if she decides to seek it later. Hence her decision: cash in - blame the media - and trust her luck. PS My friend Roger Kimball eruditely compares Sarah Palin to the ancient Roman hero Cincinnatus:

But I have to say all the knowing commentary — all the speculation about how stupid, or brilliant, or just plain inexplicable her behavior is — seems to me to ignore a crucial possibility: that with Sarah Palin, what you see is what you get. Could it, just possibly, be that she meant what she said and that she believes she can pursue her ambitions more effectively outside government? “Outside government” — the mind boggles. Is there life “outside government”? Is it possible that anyone in his right mind who had the chance of being a Governor/Congressman/Senator/President of the United States would choose not to be? That’s precisely the possibility that punditocracy and all those strategists, GOP and otherwise, just cannot wrap their minds around. Maybe they’ve heard of Cincinnatus. Deep down, though, they do not see how anyone could willingly relinquish political power. Sarah Palin must secretly be running for the presidency in 2012 or else, despite her tough talk, she is really a wimp who can’t stand the heat (i.e., the incontinent and disgusting attacks on her family). Again, I have no idea what Governor Palin’s plans are. Maybe she is secretly plotting to overthrow MSNBC and install herself as Grand Inquisitor. Who knows? But would it really be so odd if this public servant decided that she had done her bit for her state and her country and that it was time to devote herself to her family and her private pursuits?

Erudite, yes; convincing, no. Cincinnatus resigned his office after completing the task of defeating the Aequians, not half-way through. And then he returned to the same modest farmstead he owned before - not to a fabulous mansion on the Palatine built with the proceeds from his after-dinner speeches and a papyrus-scroll deal.