The Best Laid Plans...

Sometimes, there is a fine line between strategic a move to outwit your opponent and an ill-conceived plan. True, dumb luck has gotten us all out of a bind, but when considering our leaders, current and future, we expect them to surround themselves with people who can advice them against making decisions that could thwart their ambitions.
On Friday, Alaska’s Governor Sarah Palin announced that she would be resigning her leadership role as governor later this month. Palin’s explanation for this move is vague at best citing to reunite the country with conservative values… does this mean a run for the White House in 2012? Will she be taking on a leadership role within the RNC helping them fundraise for 2010 and 2012 elections? Her constituents have been left in the dark?
I am faulting no one for pursuing their political ambitions, but I question her route in the pursuit. No one path is the golden path to any office. Everything is circumstantial. What is the mood of the voters, the political climate, etc.? Any candidate who ignores this is destined to fail. That being said, Palin has just handed the Democratic Party the biggest gift if she does decide to make a run for the White House. One of the biggest criticisms from 2008 was her lack of experience, both foreign and domestic.
The bullet on her resume as Alaska’s Governor was the controversial Bridge to Nowhere, and even that came back to bite her. Since the election, what has she done other than attack David Letterman and become a grandmother (she had less to do with the latter)?
If she is planning a bid for the White House in 2012, I would have advised her to retain her leadership role and work to make positive change in Alaska (positive as she terms it as a Conservative. I’m not here to argue that right now) I would advise her to build a relationship with the media that would view her as being credible rather than a joke.
The next couple of years, it will be interesting to watch what she does and how she pursues her political aspirations. I freely admit that the media will be more critical of her as a political leader because she is a woman. That being said, she’ll have to be smarter in how she pursues this office. She’ll need to surround herself with better advisers than the ones she has currently.