-By John Armor
[I wrote this column a week ago, and posted it on the Internet without sending it to my usual publishers. Since then, almost a dozen people who live in Alaska and regularly travel to the Lower 48, or the reverse, live in the Lower 48 and travel to Alaska, have responded to my column.
[Every one of those commentators have agreed with my point about the geographic facts – which almost all of the national, media pundits have missed in their hot-air speculations about the reasons for Governor Palin’s resignation. It used to be that I would remind members of the press of their first duty — get the facts straight, before they go out dancing on spider webs of political speculation. But there is so much failure in this area today that it’s useless to point it out.]
There are two aspects of Governor Palin’s decision to resign now, which have not been competently discussed, or discussed at all, in the main stream media. One is based on the map, the other is based in American political history.
Regarding the map: I have two, immediate sources to know how long it takes, with what sort of wearing down from the journey itself, to travel to and from Alaska. One is my cousin who is a leading labor lawyer, and who went from Atlanta to Alaska frequently when the Aleska Pipeline was under construction.
The other is my son-in-law’s brother who is serving as the Agent In Charge for the FBI in Alaska. His trips home are often to North Carolina. The bottom line is this. In going to Alaska, or coming from that state to the Lower 48 for any purpose, two days are lost in travel for each trip, and there is recovery time to be sharp and on your toes in addition.
Throw in the fact that at least two of the phony, and dismissed, ethics charges made against Governor Palin were based on the fact that she was “out of the state” in order to appear or speak at events in the Lower 48. It is well known that Governors and Senators, who habitually run for President, are often absent from their states and their constituents (unless they come from Iowa or New Hampshire to begin with).
The travel restraints are far worse for Alaskans and Hawaiians than residents of any other states. The result is that no one can function in a full time government position in Alaska or Hawaii, while playing a significant, permanent role in politics in the rest of the nation.
The political history aspect refers to Richard Nixon and Hubert Humphrey. Both built their national base which gave them their respective party nominations for President by traveling the US for years on the rubber chicken circuit. They supported and raised money for hundreds of state and local candidates. They had
good results doing that, much better than similar efforts by Bill Clinton, to choose a name not entirely at random.
Bottom line: I think Sarah Palin is planning a similar, grassroots effort to those of Nixon and Humphrey. I think she knows that she needs to show immediate results in the 2010 elections for the House and Senate, with candidates she supports usually winning. She has to start now, rather than just wait to run for President or Vice President in 2012.
I think she recognized that it was impossible for her to be a Governor, a mother and a wife, and an active speaker in the Lower 48, all at once. So, she left the least important of those three tasks in the hands of her selected Lt. Governor.
The proof of what I posit will come on 12 September, 2009, if Palin is the most important speaker at the Tea Party Rally on the Mall in Washington. My analysis is correct, if she begins her speech then and there with words like these: “My fellow Americans, I come before you today not as a Republican, not as a Democrat, but as an American who is deeply, deeply concerned about the wrong directions this nation is taking because of failures by politicians in both of those ancient political parties….”
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John Armor is a graduate of Yale, and Maryland Law School, and has 33 years practice at law in the US Supreme Court. Mr. Armor has authored seven books and over 750 articles. Armor happily lives on a mountaintop in the Blue Ridge. He can be reached at: John_Armor@aya.yale.edu
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