Sarah Palin makes me nervous. Her announced resignation as governor of Alaska probably means she's running for president. Beyond not being ready for the big time, she has no experience or qualifications to be president. But that's only one reason I'm nervous.
If Palin runs, she'd be a formidable Republican candidate against an incumbent Democrat. She would need to be treated as a serious threat.
Sure, we liberals seem to have it good right now: a popular president, a 60-vote Senate majority, a clear vision for the country. But history has shown both parties tend to relax when they have control. Remember Newt's "Contract with America"? Only a few years later, Republican control disintegrated amid moral scandals and failed policies. Even Bill Clinton, whose economic policies saved the country, ended up with an impeachment on his record. After two years of a Democrat administration and a 60-vote Senate majority, the Republicans probably will have plenty of ammunition for a comeback.
And the best the Republicans can come up with is ... Sarah Palin? At least so far? She's a failed, not-even-one-term governor who quit because, as she said, as a lame duck, she'd be too tempted to stop working and just collect a paycheck? So quit instead?
While it's undoubtedly true she's not qualified, it's also true Republicans love unqualified candidates. Consider Ronald Reagan and George W. Bush.
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It's what Sarah Palin is saying that makes me nervous: She's saying all the right Republican things. She keeps bringing up family values. She tosses out phrases like "Joe Six Pack" and "Soccer Mom" and "This Great Country of Ours," even when they bear no relation to whatever topic is being discussed. "Less government regulation," she touts. "Too many taxes." She's no friend of the environment: "Drill, baby, drill," she and others chanted in St. Paul. And she keeps claiming everyone is out to get her.
She has mastered double-speak, telling everyone how difficult it is to bring up a disabled son while at the same time complaining the media intrude on her personal life. And that's just one example.
When it comes to policy, if she doesn't have an intelligent answer, she tends to dismiss the question. And she milks the 15 ethics complaints against her as nothing more than liberals taking advantage of Big Government.
You almost feel sorry for her -- until you remember she tried to use her office to get her ex-brother-in-law fired.
She's spinning like a good Republican. At least my promiscuous daughter didn't use contraceptives or get an abortion, she has said, to paraphrase. And: My husband just checked the wrong box on the voter registration; he doesn't really want to secede from the United States.
Even more brilliant has been how much the media love it when she tells everyone the media and others are out to get her. She's everywhere she wants to be. The media, including mainstream conservatives such as Rush Limbaugh, Lew Latto and Brad Bennett, can't seem to get enough of Palin. Neither can the right wing.
And if we liberals don't take her seriously, she may actually have a shot at the White House.
There are lots of reasons Sarah Palin makes me nervous.
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Pete Radosevich of Esko is an attorney and the host of the political talk show "Harry's Gang," on public access cable television.
