COMMENTARY | What is Sarah Palin worried about? Why can't she simply commit to a "yes" or "no" and be done with it? It is commonly known that there are only a few remaining weeks for her to decide on whether or not she will actually run for the presidency in 2012. It is also commonly known that polls are showing a majority of the Republican electorate that is hopeful that she does not enter the race at all. And yet, just last evening on Fox Business Network, she eliminated the "possibility" of an announcement by September's end, which had been a definite "possibility" in mid-August.
"I hold my political cards close to my chest," she told Andrew Napolitano on Fox Business Network's "Freedom Watch." "I've certainly learned lessons along those lines and I'm going to continue to do that until I'm ready to make an announcement. This is a serious decision and I'm engaged in serious deliberations."
She added, "So within the next 24 hours don't look for me to make a decision."
And the indecision machine steams on into October...
But the teasing game Palin has been playing with the press, the GOP electorate, and her staunch supporters seems to be wearing a bit thin. However, she was on Napolitano's program to defend her "flavor of the week" comments made on Tuesday night's "On The Record with Greta van Susteren," where she made the remark that Atlanta businessman Herman Cain, who had won the Florida Straw Poll and had surged to a strong third place in the latest Fox News national poll, was like Bachmann and Perry and was currently riding a wave of popularity that would most likely soon recede. (She had also dropped comments that she didn't need a "title" to make a "positive impact" in the political arena.)
Perhaps that is what she is afraid of -- why she has failed to declare her candidacy or simply say she will not become a 2012 GOP candidate. Perhaps she does not wish to be the "flavor of the week." Maybe her strategy is sitting out early debates and the internecine struggles among the candidates until the Republican electorate has had a chance to sample all the different "flavors." Then, as the latest different flavor, she might possibly capture the GOP vote.
Or perhaps she simply enjoys all the attention that her teasing brings and fears that it might somehow evaporate if she declares she will not run. As odd as that might appear, given her popularity, it just might be an insecurity from which the former governor of Alaska suffers.
Adding to the problems of what could be a late start for Palin (along with that vast majority of voters not wanting her to enter the race) is the fact that states have begun jockeying for position as to when they will hold their primaries and caucuses. Although originally set to begin in February with the Iowa Caucus, other states are pressing for earlier dates, which could possibly force Iowa, New Hampshire, Nevada, and South Carolina to move up their primaries and caucuses to remain the forerunners, giving any latecomer to the race even less time to get political campaigns on the ground and operating in the early states.
But come the end of October, the deadlines to apply to be included on states' ballots begin to expire. By then, however, the choice will be made for her if she remains indecisive, retracting through default even the slimmest chance of Palin becoming the "flavor of the week."
4 comments