Why Sarah Palin failed

By Dan Fagan
Publisher
The Alaska Standard

At one point and time Sarah Palin charmed just about each and every one of us during her political career. I fell for the Palin mystique early on and was one of her biggest fans. But once I began to analyze where she stood on issues I realized she wasn’t who I had hoped she was policy wise. She also turned out to be someone other than the person I thought she was. But isn’t that true for most people. Don’t most folks we think too highly of at first end up disappointing? I am sure I’ve disappointed thousands.

Sarah Palin is one of those people who give a great first impression. How else do you explain millions of Americans falling in love with her overnight? When you first meet her and even after you’ve spent considerable time with her, you are impressed. She comes across as real, attractive, smart, level headed, void of ego. She seems like she’s in it for the right reasons. She says all the right things, and leaves you with a sense this woman is sincere and wants to do what’s right.

I suspect for most of Palin’s life she was popular. Sure there were probably a few of the jealous types who didn’t like her because she was pretty. But by and large I would imagine in the realm of popularity, Sarah Palin has lived a charmed life.

But that lifelong popularity could have led to her downfall as governor. As times got rough for Palin, she seemed surprised if not stunned that so many would criticize her.

Things certainly went well for Palin initially in her political career. Even liberals and media élites fell for her once they learned she was all too quick to criticize Republicans. Then when she was elected governor and started raising taxes through the roof, exploded the size of government, gave away more than $800,000,000 in free cash and launched an all out war on the oil industry, liberals were smitten.

Conservatives loved her too but for different reasons. She was pro-life and lived it by giving birth to a special needs child. Her policies didn’t matter. She was a person of faith and cherished life. For most social conservatives in Alaska, she could do no wrong.

Just about the entire state was enamored by Palin early on in her time as governor. She must have thought to herself, being governor really isn’t that hard.

The only group not so happy with Palin early on was the business community. Business leaders and entrepreneurs tend to have more invested in the state than most of us and they typically examine policy more than personality when evaluating a politician. But business leaders , oil industry folks and some Republicans in the legislature were afraid to speak out against a popular governor’s liberal, anti-business policies for fear of retaliation.

Palin had the entire state either under her spell or fearing her with few exceptions. Those who opposed her were marginalized as “haters”. Palin critics became the political fringe in Alaska. I should know, I was there.

But Sarah Palin was doomed to fail for one simple reason. She convinced herself she could sustain her unprecedented approval ratings. And when critics arose she took their attacks personally. She couldn’t rise above the fray. Anyone with any type of maturity, wisdom, and insight knows leadership requires taking stands and those stands will divide and polarize. It comes with the territory and Palin should have known it.

Because everything was so personal with Palin, she had a special way of angering her opponents. Palin left those who found themselves locked in a battle with her, somehow ending up hating her. It’s doubtful we’ll ever have another governor who enraged more people than Sarah Heath Palin. It was almost as though beating you wasn’t enough, she had to humiliate you too. She played to win and made a lot of enemies along the way.

Things began to turn for the worse for Palin when she was picked as John McCain’s VP nominee. Her new job required she become something she had never been before. Partisan and conservative.

How did she think liberals in the state and the Alaska media would react when she transformed herself into a conservative overnight? Did Palin think Matt Zency, editorial writer for the Anchorage Daily News would like it when she accused Obama of palling around with terrorists? Didn’t she realize her biggest political ally, ultra left-winger State Rep. Les Gara who loved her when she was raising taxes would turn on her once she called Obama a socialist? Palin must have convinced herself liberal Alaskans were fans because of her charm, good looks, or the fact she baked cookies. What she should have known is liberals in Alaska loved her because her policies were liberal. In fact they were the most liberal ever proposed by any Alaska governor. She made former Governor Tony Knowles look like Pat Buchanan.

Once she lost the state’s liberals and the favor of the media, those conservative politicians who feared her began to find the courage to take her on. All those cowardly Republican legislators who voted for AGIA and ACES knowing it was bad for the state out of fear of Palin turned on her in a moment and all of a sudden the Belle of Wasilla was a lame duck. Her ability to push through legislation gone.

Palin must have convinced herself early on the way to be a successful governor is to please all the people all the time. Or maybe she thought she could fool all the people all the time. She certainly showed a propensity to pull one over on you. Some of the bull she tried selling was so ridiculous it made you think she was either a sociopathic liar or a delusion nut job able to convince herself what was not true was. The more controversy she found herself in, the more critics attacked her, the more deceptive she became. The more delusional she appeared.

You say Dan that’s harsh. You make Palin out to be a bad person. I don’t believe that for a second. I believe Sarah Palin is just like the rest of us. A good person with a good heart who just got in a job she was grossly unprepared for. The more overwhelmed she got, the more desperate and delusional she became.

Before you are quick to judge her, remember times in your own life when things got rough. Did you always do the right thing and make the perfect choices? I know I haven’t. Yes it is true much of the trouble she experienced she brought on herself by trusting the likes of Frank Bailey and Meghan Stapleton. They encouraged her to play the victim card over and over. Leaders don’t play the victim card.

Bottom line, Sarah Palin is human. She is very much that hockey mom, PTA president we thought she was. Not the governor we all hoped she would be.

Great leaders have thick skin. They throw aside criticism and don’t take it personally. They reject the desire to be liked. Strong leaders are obsessed with policy solutions and will fight for the issues they hold dear. Ankle biters or “haters” are meaningless to them. For Palin, it was all about the “haters.”

Palin was so consumed with her critics she was void of any commitment to policy. The most glaring example comes with ACES. Palin told us her staff convinced her ACES must be a net profits tax instead of a gross profits tax. So Palin sent ACES to the legislature as a net profits tax, but anti-oil populist State Sen. Hollis French changed ACES into a gross profits tax and Palin signed it anyway saying it was a better bill as a result of the change.

Palin’s weak-kneed approach to policy revealed itself in a similar way with AGIA. Palin sent AGIA to the legislature with a ten-year lock in of fiscal terms. Once again left winger French yanked the crucial provision and Palin signed it anyway. These two examples show Palin’s lack of commitment to policy. ACES and AGIA were for all practical purposes engineered by liberal Democrat Hollis French and Palin didn’t care. She was all about being liked, maintaining popularity, being a star.

After her resignation Friday some are characterizing Palin as a flakey, egocentric, self-serving, demigod who has always been about nothing other than advancing her own political ambitions. Critics say she abandoned Alaskans for greener pastures. Bigger and better things.

Does this make Sarah Palin a fraud? Not in the least. She was thrust into a position most of us would have failed in. Being a leader is hard. You have to be grounded in what you believe and unwavering in it even if what you believe is unpopular. Like most of us, Sarah Palin did not have what it takes to lead. At least not at this point in her life. That’s why good leaders are so hard to find and why so many politicians fail to make a real difference.

If Palin is ever to become a successful leader she will have to shed her desire to be liked. She’ll have to learn how not to take criticism personally. She’ll have to come to understand that there will always be harsh critics for a pro-life, born again Christian woman who stands for family values.

Sarah Palin still has a bright future ahead. Her life as a mother and wife inspires Americans and she will do a lot of good before it’s all said and done. But for now she should stay home for a while, spend time with her family, gain wisdom, and find healing. Yes, it is true, quitting with a year and a half left on her only term as governor is a bump on the road, but it is far from the end of the political career of the most charismatic politician since Ronald Reagan.