Governor Palin: Announce Now

.

Sarah Palin should announce her 2012 presidential run. Right now. Not wait for the post-midterm-election, normal political "calculation" on when to announce her candidacy. Not faux-run and posture like they all do. Not wait for the Tea Party's rise and/or fall to see where the chips land.

.

When Obama and Palin went tit-for-tat weeks ago on nuclear policy, one might make the assumption the President was egging the Governor on; and if that is the case then you might assume that Palin threw it right back at him. What is a greater show of weakness? Hosting your own personal League of Nations to chat nuclear disarmament, or engaging a governor who at this point is only your 2012 election opponent in theory? And Palin won the public relations battle.....decisively.

.

Obama is in campaign mode he hopes until the latter part of 2015. With that, this year's campaign will be a clear referendum on "change we can believe in." Here is a change that most Americans would probably enjoy: Palin throwing out the notion of political "calculus," and reinventing it by announcing her candidacy. Why not? The non-radio-talk-show mainstream media have gone out of their way to portray her as a dimwitted, unqualified neophyte; and not only is Palin still standing but she is getting the President to engage her on foreign policy. Obama could not possibly be dumb enough to engage her again until he would absolutely have to in 2012.

.

So now that the mainstream media has failed in their portrayal of Palin, it is onto the Tea Party, which they are going out of their way to portray as illegitimate. The Tea Party, which adores her, is quite obviously anything but illegitimate, and it is possible and maybe even probable they will succeed in moving the Republican Party sufficiently to the right. In that case, booey for Palin, who will easily glide past the likes of Romney, Huckabee, Gingrich, et al. in the party.

.

But what if they do not succeed? What if the Republican establishment succeeds in keeping the party at the center-right position where it now resides? This could be the only prickly point for Palin if she announces "early." Or would it? The grassroots movement that is the Tea Party has established and organized itself to the point now where it really only needs a national spokesman to legitimize itself as a viable third party. Who else other than Palin?

.

So again, why wouldn't Palin announce her candidacy right now? The Tea Party, to the chagrin of many media members, clearly is not going anywhere. Obama gift-wrapped her a platform to exercise her foreign policy chops. She is coming off multiple, high-exposure events including her most impacting speech to date at the Southern Conservative Leadership Conference. It comes down to her personal stock in political "calculation." She just seems above it. With the President himself obviously living in a world ruled by his own reelection "calculations," Palin should throw out the calculations and announce her candidacy by claiming, "No, Mr. President, this is change we can believe in."

.

- RDS