Sarah Palin Announcement

Sarah Palin announced through a statement, read by Mark Levin, this week that she will not be seeking the GOP nomination in 2012.  The reasons, she said, were family related, and she also believed that the title of president would somewhat "limit" her, and that she would somehow be prevented from being a "maverick."  This was a huge disappointment for many, many people, as huge numbers of them have been avid followers and fans of hers since she gave her RNC speech in 2008.  Governor Palin does have a patriot's heart, and it is obvious that she loves her country dearly.  I do believe she will one day be in a high office.  Perhaps not President, but a Cabinet position would not be at all surprising.

As much as I believe she would have made the race a bit more exciting, I think there are pros and cons as to her decision.  Cons, of course, are what I said above -- a true patriot who cares about fixing America's problems.  Pros could be, the fact that if she had announced her candidacy, nearly every media source would have hounded in directly on her.  It would have taken a huge amount of coverage from the rest of the candidates.  It also may have taken the spotlight from some of the very important issues being discussed within the race right now, since the media has shown repeatedly that they find Gov. Palin an open target (wrongly-- everyone should be vetted, but hers was just a bit much).

Sarah Palin fans everywhere are now deciding what to do next.  Many of them may wait to see if Gov. Palin endorses a current candidate.  If she does that, there is a very good chance that many of her supporters would turn to that candidate.  Some of them will turn toward other evangelical, grassroots Conservatives in the race, such as Governor Rick Perry or businessman Herman Cain.  Either way, those votes will now be divided up and could help choose the actual nominee.

New Jersey Governor Chris Christie also announced that he is not running-- again.  He has said it repeatedly for the past year, but decided a few weeks ago to "reconsider" a run after being implored by so many.  Since he has kept the same decision for so long, I don't think anyone was really expecting him to change his mind in a week.  I personally do not see Gov. Christie the way most people do, in that they believe he would be the perfect candidate to come in and shake things up.  I believe that if he really did run for president, as he will probably do in the future, issues will come up regarding his past, just as they have for every other candidate.  No candidate will be perfect-- regarding their past, or in other areas such as speaking.  The longer someone has been in a high leadership position, such as governor, the more mistakes they will have in their resume.