Why Sarah Palin resigned
Is the Alaska governor stepping down due to political ambition, media persecution, or something else?
A free daily digest of the biggest news stories of the day - and the best features from our website
Thank you for signing up to TheWeek. You will receive a verification email shortly.
There was a problem. Please refresh the page and try again.
The political world is “flummoxed” by Sarah Palin’s decision to quit as Alaska governor, said The Wall Street Journal in an editorial, and “understandably so.” Her explanation was “hardly clear or persuasive.” If she’s leaving public life, “who can blame her” after her “mauling” by Democrats and the media elite? But if she’s readying a presidential bid for 2012, she should be studying hard now, to “add substance to her natural political talents.”
Talented or not, Palin’s presidential hopes are dead, said Anchorage Daily News columnist Michael Carey in the Los Angeles Times. “The road map to the White House doesn’t include a stop at ‘I quit’.” Why did she do it? This famously thin-skinned politician “couldn’t take it anymore,” neither the “mockery” nor “the hard work of being governor.” Whatever Palin’s reasons, you can be sure she did it for her own advantage, not “the good of Alaskans.”
“A Sarah Palin who stepped down for the sake of her family" deserves our sympathy, said Ross Douthat in The New York Times. But if she quit in the “delusional belief” that it will help her in 2012, she “warrants no such kindness.” Her great appeal is the “democratic ideal” of the “ordinary citizen who takes on the elites.” She (by quitting) and the elites (by trashing her for her “gender and social class”) both tarnished that ideal.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Yes, my “hostility” toward Palin is partly gender-based, said Ruth Marcus in The Washington Post. I want to see see women succeed, and Palin has “set back that cause.” Hillary Clinton didn’t quit her losing campaign; Jenny Sanford hasn’t quit her floundering marriage. “Big girls don’t quit,” and Palin not only quit, she praised herself for doing so.
Palin hasn’t quit, said Bill Quick in the New York Post. She’s gunning for 2012, and stepping down now “isn’t necessarily a bad decision.” She needs to tap and nurture real conservatives to forge a “shadow GOP leadership,” stop trying to "make herself likable” to the media and other “enemies,” and work to win over the “sisterhood” of disgruntled Hillary supporters. If she does that, this ending will be a “forceful beginning.”
Continue reading for free
We hope you're enjoying The Week's refreshingly open-minded journalism.
Subscribed to The Week? Register your account with the same email as your subscription.
Sign up to our 10 Things You Need to Know Today newsletter
A free daily digest of the biggest news stories of the day - and the best features from our website
-
Seasonal attire
Cartoons
By The Week Staff Published
-
The daily gossip: Sophie Turner sues Joe Jonas for 'immediate return' of their kids, 'Euphoria' star Angus Cloud's cause of death revealed, and more
The daily gossip: September 21, 2023
By Brendan Morrow Published
-
Romney's seat
Cartoons
By The Week Staff Published