Palin Keeps Attacking Obama: "No Present Button"

The presidential campaign is over, but Sarah Palin -- still at the epicenter of media attention -- continues to take digs at Barack Obama.

Speaking at the Republican Governor's Association meeting on Thursday in Miami, the Alaska Governor spoke primarily about the responsibilities of Republican executives in supporting domestic initiatives like tax cuts and budgetary prudence. But then she offered an obvious swipe at the President-elect.

Governors, she said make "tough decisions to best serve the people who hire us. And we are held accountable every day. The buck stops on our desk. We are not just one of many voting yea or nay or present. No. There is no present button in our office, is there? We have to make the tough decisions."

The line about voting "present," of course, is a clear jab at Obama -- lifted from an attack line that the McCain campaign (and the Clinton camp) used repeatedly on the trail. The crowd, it seemed, got the joke.

The dig comes, moreover, after Palin has continued airing concerns about Obama'a associations and readiness to be commander-in-chief in recent interviews.

It's hard to understand just what type of strategy Palin is deploying here. Her popularity rating plummeted as the campaign progressed, in part because of her attacks on Obama, in part because, after the campaign ended, aides to McCain painted her as vapid and out-of-her-league.

As such, she needs to push back against these negative narratives. And so we see her taking all of these national interviews after mostly avoiding press on the trail. But by continuing to take swipes at Obama, Palin seems to be doing little more than reinforcing the image that she is hyper-partisan and bitter over the election outcome.

UPDATE: Reader JMZ points out that in many states legislation can pass without the governor's signature -- the political equivalent of voting present (governors don't have to watch as their vetoes are overturned).

Comments

[LeiftheLucky]

Palin outclasses all of you, as Paglia points out. At least some people have integrity.

http://allanerickson.wordpress.com/2008/11/14/paglia-on-obama-ayers-palin/

[DougNTexas]

Palin has no class at all. And she sure as hell has no integrity at all. Does anyone in the entire country really think she was not trying her best to get her Ex Brother-in-Law fired and lied about it? Really? Did she or did she not have a affair with her hubby's business partner? Did she have her house built by the same people who did the skate rink in Wasilla? Intriguing minds want to know the real truth?

[demjustice]

I have yet to hear a single proposal from Sarah "NO PLAN PALIN" about how she would fix all the problems this nation faces. Run Baby Run 2012. The door is cracked and there are a whole army of republicans standing on the other side with candy, clothes and hair dressers...enticing Sarah to barrel through in 2012. HMMM..me thinks it may be a trap.

[leeman79]

It's not wise to ridicule and trivialize the duties of congress when your aspiration is to become a part of it.

[roshni]

Scarah, Scarah, Scarah: how can we miss you if you just won't go away?

[Annemariefay]

As always with Palin, it is fundamental narcissism driving her. Look at how ratted up her hair was!
This time I guess she had to rat it herself. But she is clearly trying to use her looks to cover over how little she has to say about anything. But with pathological narcissists, they see themselves as gifts of god, and are incapable of recognizing their own limitations. This is Palin in a nutshell.

[Blue in NH]

Awww. How cute! Ms. Moosebreath keeps on fouling the air.

[BunnyBree]

I can't get over this woman's constant need to divide everyone and make excuse after excuse for her blunders! As one blogger put it.....she blames everyone but her mother for her ineptitude. Which reminds me......has anyone ever heard ANYTHING about Palin's mother? Is she living? I saw her dad and brother on TV talking about their "darling Sarah", but there has not been one glimpse of or word about her mother. You would think she would have been with her grandchildren at some point during the campaign?

On another note.....she still seems to think her "mistreatment" was sexist. She completely puts herself out there with her silly winking, and trying to be cutsie and then complains that some of us don't take her seriously? She said she wasn't used to being treated that way, as Alaskan women are "tough" and self sufficient....no sexism in Alaska! Why then is the rape statistic so high? No sexism in Alaska? Hmmmmmmmm.......

[bac59447]

A combination of terrible instincts and lousy advise is my diagnosis. This person is ignorant of the impact she's having on most Americans and of the nastiness of her own campaign largely because she is so manically self-confident (hubris comes to mind) that it would never occur to her that she has an elephant-sized blind spot and that she should stop and do some self examination. Add that to a probable continuation of the bubble around her that prevents her from hearing or seeing anything other than self-affirming fawning ("You're the future Sarah!") and you have the twisted spectacle we see unveiled before us. Even W had the good sense to go in hiding over the last two years when he (finally) realized the American people wanted only to see him close the door behind him as he leaves.

[javaman]

so narcissistic failin is at it again, she just can't get over the fact tha she lost. man, talk about massive ego. she has slid into self parody now.

[nubret2008]

Darn I'm happy they didn't won ;-)

[HowietheScreamer]

UPDATE: Reader JMZ points out that in many states legislation can pass without the governor's signature -- the political equivalent of voting present (governors don't have to watch as their vetoes are overturned).


It should be pointed out that the FEDERAL government is the same way. Congress passes a bill, sends it to the president, who can sign, veto, or do nothing. If he does nothing, the bill becomes law in 10 days, whether he signs or not.

Sheesh, what happened to Civics classes? Dumbing down of America indeed.

[babyboomerorig]

She should get together with Boehner....neither of them wants to do any sorty of cooperation with ANY administration that isn't of their beliefs. God forbid that people should be able to work together to come to an agreement. Just trash and burn.

[IntExec]

If someone doesn't rewrite her talking points, we will continue to hear about Joe "the tax evader" for years. She is an idiot.

[swanie]

WGAS?

She is IRRELEVANT, and the best thing the Republicans could do for the Democrats is to have her on the ticket in 2012.

She is the past - NOT the future. The Republicans will also be the past IF they cannot figure out how to EXPAND THE PARTY to include much more diversity, and younger people.

If you don't believe me, check the "after action" reports on the election and the demographics that the Republicans could not garner.

If the party does not diversify, it will die a slow and painful political death.

Let me put it simply - the Pat Buchanan's of the world need to retire or shut up! Time and the Party have passed them by. There is NO OTHER WAY ! !

Enough said.
.

[heather65]

she's stuck on the "bash obama" autopilot.
off topic, is it me or, is her hair getting higher with each public appearance?

[CologneCitizen]

Palin wants to play a role on the national stage. After Obama's victory there is a huge vacuum in the GOP she is trying to fill. The media knows this and continues to feed on these non-Palin-stories. I mean a 4 minute press conference with 4 questions and none of these 4 questions answered ?
In a normal world people would have lost interest after Nov. 5th. But I must admit I have Palin withdrawl symptons myself when there is one day I get no info on her latest stunt.