It was one year ago today, when our ex-half-governor Sarah Palin stood in Fairbanks, Alaska and stepped down from the governorship. After first declaring herself a "lame duck," and then decrying the ineffectual nature of lame ducks in general, there was simply nothing else she could do. But she did take the opportunity on that day to explain to all of us what she'd be doing with all of her newly found and self-inflicted free time.
Because let's face it -- the only time we up here in Alaska were more surprised than when she accepted the nomination for VP was when she quit. So we were curious. And then she declared that she was going "to chart a new course to advance the state."
What would she do, we wondered? Would she become a lobbyist for gasline issues? Would she become a spokesmodel for Princess Cruises? Would she use her celebrity to promote wild salmon or Alaska crab? Would she continue to fight for the oil tax system she put in place so the other Republicans in the legislature wouldn't hack it off at the knees? Would she try to get us a major league sports team? Would she take on issues of poverty in rural areas? Domestic violence? Sexual assault? Teen pregnancy? Education? What?
What would this "new course" be, and how would the state advance? Even if you don't like Sarah Palin, you've got to admit she has influence. And if she'd decided not to waste that influence, and do something to better the state -- well good for her. She wasn't much of a governor, so Plan B might have some potential.
Granted, she hadn't used the power of celebrity much for the benefit of others while she was governor. For instance, her titanic stature as a public figure would have easily solved many of the emergency food and fuel shortages in Western Alaska the past two winters. Imagine a public service announcement with Sarah Palin saying something like:
Hi, I'm governor Sarah Palin and I'm here with an important message for All Alaskans, and to personally ask for your help. Our Native communities in rural areas are in trouble. Imagine if, because of circumstances beyond your control like unseasonably cold weather and poor fish runs, you were forced to choose between keeping your family warm, or feeding them? What would you say to your elders and your children? How would you feel?
We can't turn a blind eye to the suffering of our fellow Americans. We're better than that. Alaskans have big hearts, and we know how to help each other when we get in trouble. It's part of the Frontier spirit for communities to support each other in times of desperate need. So please, make a donation to Organization X, that is ensuring that staple foods, baby formula and basic necessities are getting to needy Alaskan families in the poorest and most remote areas of the state. In the America I know, people step up for families. I know you feel the same way. Thank you, and God bless you.
But the "let them eat cookies" strategy of dealing with this crisis wasn't the only plan. There were also some food boxes that had been stuffed with little proselytizing fliers from "Samaritan's Purse," Graham's evangelical relief organization.
Her conservative message was clear. People in need? Sorry, not the government's problem. However, look and see how crises can be handled by private organizations doing God's work.
So now that she would no longer be part of the problem government, surely she'd be part of the private solution. Right?
"Now people who know me, they know how much I love this state ...
"With this decision, now I will be able to fight even harder for you, for what is right and for the truth," Palin continued. "And I have never felt you need a title to do that."
So what has she done in the past year -- her first as a private citizen, unfettered by the burden of governing, and a title -- to chart a new course for the state of Alaska?
Her celebrated oil tax reform called ACES (Alaska's Clear and Equitable Share) that was passed with blood, sweat, tears and Democrats, is in the cross-hairs of the legislature. It was her big legacy legislation, the only good thing she ever did, and it's in trouble with Palin nowhere to be seen.
There is no relief in sight for Western Alaska which teeters on the brink of disaster with every winter.
The last great wild salmon run on the continent in Bristol Bay is threatened by the looming specter of a huge copper and gold mine at its headwaters. The potential for environmental disaster from the Pebble Mine is epic, and would arguably affect the nation's seafood supply more than the current Gulf tragedy.
Domestic violence, sexual assault, alcohol and drug abuse, incest, and the desperate and tragic migration of Native Alaskans from village life into big cities all continue to plague our state. Our high school drop out rate is astronomical. Each of these issues and so many more could benefit from a powerful national voice speaking up for those who can't.
Palin, instead, has used her time, her energy and her star power to - write a book about herself and tour the nation. She's become a contributor on Fox News to repeat talking points about (irony alert) what an ineffectual leader the President has become. She has continued to chant the mantra "drill baby, drill" even as the southeast faces an environmental holocaust. She's Facebook blasted a journalist who rented the house next door that she refused to buy.
In a painful demonstration of philosophical inconsistency, she's endorsed candidates from former campaign supporter Fairbanks attorney Joe Miller, to exporter of American jobs Carly Fiorina, to establishment candidate John McCain to "anti-Marxist utopia" Tea Party candidate Clint Didier. She slammed two students at their own college while raking in six figures for speaking there. She's courted conventions of bowlers, loggers and liquor wholesalers, built a giant "fortress of solitude" next to her house, written on her hand, almost got away with another year of shirking her property taxes, spent $14,000 de-icing the wings of private jets using her PAC money, and has somehow managed to pull in an estimated $20 million by putting English-like words in random order and speaking them aloud.
She's even demonstrated xenophobia and religious intolerance in 140 characters or less, by telling New Yorkers what should and should not be built near the World Trade Center site. Mayor Michael Bloomberg told her to mind her own business.
Speaking of her own business, that brings us back to the question -- what has she done to help the state of Alaska?
Not much. It's been a busy year.