'The Tragedy of Sarah Palin'

It's not news to Alaskans, but today's Sarah Palin seems different than the woman who served a brief, but iconoclastic, reformist and bipartisan term as Alaska's governor. And more than a few Alaskans have wondered what might have happened since 2008 if she had continued to walk the path that won her a broad base of support in Alaska. Joshua Green, a senior editor for The Atlantic and Boston Globe weekly columnist, has posted a long column recounting Palin's record as governor and exploring the apparent shift her platform has undergone as she transitioned to national politics. Ultimately, Green finds the shift tragic and argues that it reshaped American politics as a whole. The lengthy column resists summary, so check it out, here. And if you're pressed for time right now and in the mood for an appetizer, Green has posted a sidebar entry highlighting Palin's "secret success," the oil tax reform package which no one seems to be talking much about, but which remains, in Green's view at the very least, "Palin's major achievement."