[Ishmael Melville has penned the best in-Alaska post-mortem on Alaska Governor Sarah Palin's pre-doomed run for the vice presidency of the United States. I'll be doing some post-morteming myself, but I doubt I'll write it better than Ish did this morning. As he wrote last year, about one of my essays, "Every Alaskan should read this." Dude!]--- by Ishmael Melville
And if so, how can we keep her down on the tundra now that she's seen Nieman Marcus?
Now that Governess Sarah Palin is coming back to Alaska after a nine week vacation, she's going to have to re-learn to work with a legislature that has more Democrats in it than before, still sky-high energy costs, plummeting oil revenues, the mess that is rural Alaska, and a lot of pissed off Alaskans.
In other words, she'll actually have to govern, perhaps for the first time in her life. There won't be $1,200 energy rebate bonuses to pass around like candy to keep the masses happy.
Her first move needs to be a series of apologies.
- She needs to apologize to Democrats for the incendiary vitriol she spewed for over two months on the vice-presidential campaign trail - especially if she wants them to work as closely with her as they did before.
- She needs to apologize to rural Alaskans for allowing their plight to get to the point where some villages are being abandoned.
- And she needs to apologize for being gone so long from the job we hired her to do. Oh, and return two months salary. Or at least half of it. It's a symbolic gesture, but what else has she got?
But I have a sneaky suspicion humble isn't "how she's wired," and in any case, she may just leave for a job at Faux News before her term is up. Troopergate is not over, despite what the State Personnel Board says, and neither are the revelations about the bogus per diem bills she's sent the state for living in her own home and flying her children around on the public's dollar. That, and there's the recall petition that could be sprung any day now....
She may not be very bright or worldly, but she's a survivor (and from what we've learned the past two months, a vicious one) so we can't underestimate her. But if she's smart, she needs to be a little deferential to Alaskans until we can forgive her enough to work with her again. After all, she'll need a scandal-free two years if she still has national political aspirations, so it might be in her best interest. And if we're smart, we'll wait and see how well she makes nice before we trust her again, because it is we who hold the key to her success in seeking higher office.
4 comments:
Sarah doesn't need to do anything except get to work running the state. No apologies are needed.
People who expect apologies are too thin skinned to govern. Let's just have everyone do their job.
Stop all this "I'm offended" nonsense. It sounds like a bunch of playground sissies.
That there are real challenges in Alaska goes without saying. It's not Palin's fault that rural villages are having energy problems...but it is her challenge to solve them.
Democrats are not going to work closely with anyone unless they want to actually solve problems. My sense is that they would rather cause problems than help bush communities.
A recall petition is useless. Look at Ted Stevens for goodness sake, he is winning or close to winning, and hes a convicted felon. Palin would slap a recall down flat and everyone involved will have wasted valuable time and money.
This post is a joke...right?
I love it. Thank you for your liberal, humorous insight. :-)
Alaskans are much too forgiving of their politicians. Don't we have ANY standards???
"After all, she'll need a scandal-free two years if she still has national political aspirations, so it might be in her best interest."
Didn't Alaskans just re-elect Senator Ted Stevens - a convicted felon for a national political office?
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