Pay no attention to those so-called “political experts.”At the risk of excessive self-aggrandizing, (and how, I wonder, does one define “excessive”?) allow me to share with you the cause of Sarah Palin’s resignation as Governor of Alaska after only two plus years of a first term.
And I use the word “cause” as opposed to “reason” because I think reason implies she has control over the situation.
Cause, on the other hand, simply explains the end result of forces beyond her control.
Pretty heady shit for a holiday Saturday, huh?
I like to think it’s part of my charm.
Meanwhile…
She resigned because she was in a place, to put it bluntly, she simply didn’t belong.
And, naysayers say nay as you will, but I’m not talking about her talents, skills or qualifications.
Necessarily.
It simply wasn’t a good fit.
Or, more to the point, it simply wasn’t the right spotlight.
I can’t say whether all of this would have happened if she hadn’t been plucked from relative obscurity (with all due respect to Alaska, of course, but being Governor up there is probably somewhere between QVC host and director of the American Red Cross on a national name recognition scale.)
And I won’t say, either.
Which immediately separates me from just about every talking head you’ll see on cable news.
I will say, this, though.
It doesn’t take a Mensa member to see, in hindsight, that she was plucked from that relative obscurity and put into the brightest of lights where, through an almost comedic series of events, she found herself faced with a tsunami of exposure, critique and criticism, some of it unkind, some of it unfair, most of it probably deserved.
Don’t matter, mama.
Fair or un, she simply didn’t belong in that particular spotlight.
And politics has no corner on that particular cultural phenomenon.
Let’s talk Pat Sajak.
The first time I saw Pat was in the mid seventies when he was the witty, charmingly, but subtly sarcastic, weekend weather guy on the NBC affiliate in Nashville.
And much as I love and respect Nashville (and I truly do), I think it fair to say that being the witty, but charmingly, sarcastic weekend weather guy on the NBC affiliate qualifies as relative obscurity.
From there, Sajak and/or TV geeks will recall, he was plucked from that relative obscurity to host his own late night talk show, competing directly with the monolith of American late night television, The Tonight Show.
I don’t recall the exact numbers, but I think Pat’s late night show lasted about three days.
Go quietly into that good night?
Well, as history has shown us, no, not so much.
Because for what seems like a hundred years now, Pat has been the successful and much beloved host of the most successful game show in the history of television…”WHEEL…OF…FORTUNE!!!!!!!!!…”
Obviously, in Pat’s case, it wasn’t a lack of talent, skill or qualification.
It was simply a matter of finding the right fit.
So, for those who are feeling a little weepy this morning because Sarah Palin is saying “adieu” (or whatever it is they say way the hell up there…”bye bye, by golly…”), do not despair.
She’s not going away.
She’s just moving on in search of the right fit.
The political experts are going to bore the living god out of you in the coming weeks with their predictions and assessments.
Me?
Don’t have a clue.
Run for the Senate? Maybe. Run for President? Who knows?
Only one thing sure.
Vanna is double checking to make sure that HER contract is air tight in case the producers are thinking a little brunette moose hunter might freshen up the old Wheel stage.
Come to think of it, there’s one other option that might pop up in Sarah’s list of possibles:
Saturday Night Live really hasn’t been worth jack squat since Tina Fey left.
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