Gov. Sarah Palin finally let reporters ask her about why she has resigned, but she offered no clearer explanation than she did during her announcement Friday. She would not say whether she will run for president -- the explanation that would make the most sense for her decision to quit. It would be much easier for her to begin pursuing the presidency if she is unburdened by the responsibility of running a distant state.
Holding court on a beach in Dillingham, allotting 10 minutes to each news outlet, Palin continued to complain about having to face numerous, often frivolous ethics complaints. Instead of treating those nettlesome charges as nuisances, she explained that they came to dominate the work of her administration. That doesn't speak well of her ability to handle a high-profile political job, where criticism and personal attacks are, regrettably, inevitable.
She continues to say she didn't want to stick around as a lame duck, once she decided not to run for re-election. In the upcoming legislative session, she suggested, she would be a political piñata, as lawmakers bashed on her in hopes of winning the soon-to-be vacated space in the governor's mansion.
That might make sense if Palin were as unpopular as her predecessor. But Palin is still plenty popular with Alaskans, so bashing her would be a strange marketing strategy for a future gubernatorial candidate. She doesn't seem to realize that lame duck status also can be liberating, freeing an official to do what she thinks best, even if it's politically unpopular.
In any event, political jockeying breaks out in the Legislature every time a governor is either term-limited or chooses not to seek re-election. Is she saying that every governor in that situation should resign?
Palin claims she'll be able to advocate for Alaska more effectively in what she does next, though she is vague about what that will be. She says she plans to campaign for other candidates in the Lower 48. Doing that may well be a chance to educate Americans about Alaska issues, but it also gives her plenty of exposure to voters.
Gov. Palin's responsibilities to the state and her national ambitions pull her in opposite directions. Before running for national office, Palin inspired bipartisan coalitions to pass ethics reform, fix the state's corruption-tainted oil taxes and create a competitive bidding process for issuing state incentives to pursue a North Slope gas pipeline. Once on the national stage, though, she won the adulation of Republican voters for her partisanship.
Ever since being chosen for the Republican ticket last summer, Gov. Palin has seemed more and more disengaged from the daily work of running state government. Given the continuing pull of national politics and a diminishing interest in governing Alaska, her decision to leave appears to be the right decision for Alaska.
BOTTOM LINE: The explanations are perplexing, but Alaska will be better off with a governor who wants to do the job.