Sarah's Choice

Sarah Palin is hitting the lecture circuit. On September 23 she's scheduled to address the CLSA investors' group in Hong Kong. The title of her talk, however, is a secret. According to CNN, CLSA flack Simone Wheeler says, "We are not disclosing the topic of Sarah Palin's presentation at this point." Nor is the media going to be allowed to attend.

But keeping mum about Palin's talk is sure to whet curiousity about it. What hot tips about maximizing personal income might the former Governor of Alaska be dispensing? One key source may be Levi Johnston's recent chronicle in Vanity Fair of his several months spent living in the Palin household. If his observations are anything to go by, Palin definitely has her own approach to work. She doesn't like it.

Levi's account suggests that her favorite activity is getting others to do her bidding. And she likes free stuff -- free room service, free clothes, free hotel rooms. Once the campaign ended, Levi says, her motto was, "I want to just take this money and quit being governor." And so she has.

In her venality, Palin represents the quintessence of the ethos that flourished during the Bush years. Her credo of something for nothing contrasts starkly with President Obama's admonition to Wall Street today: "I want everybody here to hear my words: We will not go back to the days of reckless behavior and unchecked excess that was at the heart of this crisis, where too many were motivated only by the appetite for quick kills and bloated bonuses."

Palin clearly isn't listening. But her audiences should. When Palin says whatever tumbles into her head in Hong Kong, her listeners would do well to remember what John McCain quickly learned: she herself has always been a volatile and bad investment.