"With Palin, Keep Your Eye On That Audible".

With Palin, Keep Your Eye on That Audible

Sarah Palin’s speech on Friday announcing her resignation as governor of Alaska will go down as historic: truly, it was one of the zaniest moments in American political history. It made Richard Nixon’s famous “this is my last press conference” episode in 1962 look coherent, statesmanlike and carefully considered.

That’s why there cannot be any real debate over whether her strange and meandering statement hurt her: of course it did. The only open question is whether her means of exit closed off her political future entirely. I’m inclined to think that it’s a career ender, despite the insistence of so many that you never say never in politics. Yes, Nixon did come back after that last press conference of his. But Nixon had political gifts that Palin doesn’t.

I understand that the standard rules of journalism require an on-the-one-hand-on-the-other-hand treatment of this event by way of finding some potential silver lining in all this for Palin. But I honestly believe there is no on-the-other-hand here. Her perfomance was -- to use a word my friend David Brooks taught me -- shambolic.

If there was one thing you could always give Palin credit for, it was her knowledge of and passion for sports. That’s why it’s worth paying attention to her badly fractured and impossibly mixed sports metaphors. When her sports references went astray, you really knew something was wrong.

Consider this passage:

A good point guard drives through a full court press, protecting the ball, keeping her eye on the basket... and she knows exactly when to pass the ball so that the team can WIN. And I'm doing that -- keeping our eye on the ball that represents sound priorities -- smaller government, energy independence, national security, freedom! And I know when it's time to pass the ball -- for victory.

Now wait a minute: First, she tells us that a good point guard keeps her eye on the basket -- and one sentence later, she’s telling us it’s the ball she’s watching. Maybe that passage explains her difficulties perfectly.

And she wasn’t done with the sports metaphors. There was also this:

We need those who will respect our Constitution where government's supposed to serve from the bottom up, not move toward this top down big government take-over... but rather, will be protectors of individual rights -- who also have enough common sense to acknowledge when conditions have drastically changed and are willing to call an audible and pass the ball when it's time so the team can win! And that is what I'm doing!

I’m not sure how to parse that mouthful, but we have clearly moved out of the world of basketball and into football. I keep re-reading those words and have to conclude that Palin called an audible here that no one can understand.

Let me confess that I was a Palin skeptic from day one, so I wasn’t shocked by her display on Friday. I continue to be surprised, however, by those who insist that she has a real chance of becoming president. Neither a buzzer beater nor a Hail Mary pass will make that happen -- especially after Friday.