Sarah Palin's long view

Michael Wolfe:

Sarah Palin clearly believes that she has been wronged and that she is under concerted attack. She has decided not to relent, or curry favor, or soften her image, or resort to any defensive public relations tactics. She’s on the offensive.

Her alternative would have been obvious. Go back to Alaska, put her head down, and try to accommodate her political enemies. Perhaps write a lessons-learned book about her unlikely star turn.

Curiously, and alarmingly, she turns out to be much more seize-the-day than that. She certainly likes the attention. But it’s hard not to miss her instinctual combativeness.

Arrayed against an establishment, both Democratic and Republican, which says she is a hopeless lightweight and obviously illegitimate, she keeps coming, keeps giving offense.

This isn’t as dumb as it looks.

The most powerful strategy in American politics is to buck the conventional wisdom. If you can keep bucking it without being broken, you can actually win. It’s all Rocky stuff: How many punches can you take?

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Her stumbles may not matter very much. Her stubbornness and up-against-it-ness, together with the opprobrium of her opponents, is what feeds her core brand of loyalists.

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Wolfe is not Palin supporter, but he does recognize her potential. Right now that potential is still much more significant than many in Washington comprehend. I think she is willing to take risk and use her charisma to push for things she believes in. She is still willing to stand up to leadership both parties. She is probably the most important Maverick in politics today.