Why Sarah Palin is Not the New Face of the Republican Party

Sarah Louise Heath Palin (born 11 February 1964) was John McCain's choice when it came to picking his Vice-Presidential running mate in 2008; she is also the face that many believe is the new face of the Republican Party, one that many hope runs for President in 2012. Yet her very failure as McCain's surprise Hail Mary pick will undermine any serious chance she has at winning a national race.

While it is still unclear how John McCain came to the conclusion that Palin was a suitable running mate (one rumor says that it was a blogger that inspired his choice), it is clear that he hoped that Palin would collect some votes from those who were supporters of Hillary Clinton. Sarah Palin, on the surface, seemed to have nothing hideous in her political background. But because she had never been examined by the national media before she was announced as McCain's choice, the public got all of her political dirt (none of it was any worse than any other politician's) all at once.

This in itself did not kill her bid in being Vice-President. The breakdown of the entire economy with increasing unemployment which was blamed on the previous administration, particularly the Republican President George W. Bush Jr. is what sealed with doom the McCain/Palin ticket. But this sudden muddening will be what a lot of voters will remember when it comes time to seriously think about voting in 2012.

The voter will remember her as the gun-toting, moose hunting soccer mom, the bulldog with lipstick, if they remember her kindly in 2012. If they remember her negatively, they will remember her as a person who abused her power to try to get her ex-brother-in-law fired from his job (Troopergate) and who thought that being able to see Russia from her front porch counted as foreign policy experience; this latter part will actually be unfair to her considering it was actually Tina Fey on Saturday Night Live who said that line (though one wondered at the time if it wasn't actually true).

Politically, we might remember conflicting stories about whether she supported Big Oil or not, and fuzzy details about the Bridge to Nowhere. Women will probably remember that Palin believes that abortion should be banned even if rape and incest is involved, except when the mother's life in endangered. Her political views are no worse than any other politician; she can't even claim to be the first politician that God has talked to.

Politically, there will be nothing wrong with Sarah Palin in 2012; she will be the same person that she was when John McCain pulled her name out of the hat. Except that many people, perhaps too many, will remember all the dirt that came out about her, not one spoonful at a time but rather whole truckloads all at once. And it is that bad taste that will end up with her being labeled the wrong choice for President in 2012; it is what going to prevent her from being the new face of the Republican Party if they hope to retake the power that they have lost.