'We feel about her the way you feel about the Queen'
She exploded out of small-town Alaska on to the international stage, but what is next for Sarah Palin? Her supporters want her to run for president in 2012, but to millions of others she is now an embarrassing joke. Ed Pilkington tests the water in WasillaEd Pilkington
The Guardian, Monday November 10 2008
Sixty-eight days that shook the world. Or at least shook the town of Wasilla, population 9,000. A woman called Sarah is picked up by the collar of her jean jacket, air-freighted thousands of miles into the "lower 48", as Alaskans call continental North America, slapped into a new wardrobe costing more than $150,000, and paraded in front of thousands of baying Republicans, who instantly fall in love with her. Result: an individual barely known outside Alaska becomes an instant celebrity, with first-name recognition not just across the US but right around the world.
The best way to get a sense of the magnitude of the story, of how so much has changed so quickly, is to follow in her footsteps as she makes the reverse journey. Sarah Palin's return to Wasilla took place last Wednesday, the day after the presidential election, when she stepped off the McCain-Palin campaign plane for the final time at Anchorage airport. It has already been suggested that she might be the next Republican presidential candidate - a gaggle of chilled supporters had gathered to scream "2012! 2012!" at her - but on that icy tarmac, she said that her only thought for four years' time was getting her youngest child, Trig, into kindergarten.
Such dissembling is to be expected from a politician who needs to map her next moves with precision if she is to avoid further pitfalls. Yet it seems doubtful that a woman as ambitious as Palin could resist any potential advances from senior Republicans. Small-town mayor; state governor; presidential candidate - the sequence has a ring to it.
But before she can make even the slightest step towards a bid for 2012, she has to secure her re-entry to Alaska, and this could prove extremely difficult. She has come back to Wasilla in deep winter. Since she was hoist on to the national stage, all of nine weeks ago, her home has turned from green to white, its rivers frozen, and its inhabitants swollen several inches inside their Arctic weather gear. And like the view from her house, the political climate is much colder now than when she left. .......(more)
The complete piece is at:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/nov/10/sarah-palin-republican
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