What’s next for former Governor Sarah Palin?  I’m not sure that even she knows the answer to that question.

Obviously she needed to get into a position where she could make enough money to defend herself.  And regardless of what you think of her, this whole episode of resignation was an interesting exercise in what makes a person make the news.

I believe the opposite of the general wisdom when it comes to what Palin did in Alaska—as far as leaving office.  It kept her name in the public eye, and doesn’t hurt too much in the long term.

Those people that believe that she has somehow opened herself up to be branded a “quitter” will have an interesting time trying make it a big deal.  Yes, she did switch colleges, but it would be tough for me to reasonably say that she would step down from the Presidency (should she choose to run) or somehow back down from a challenge.

And then again, I can think of a lot of second term Presidents (ahem, George W. Bush) whom I would have loved to have stepped down near the end of his term so that someone who actually had a passion for conservatism could have been making the decisions at that time.

But I think this decision was far more practical than anything else.  I think that there were mounting bills and no way to get them under control.  I also think that this allows her (regardless of her future ambitions) to have a voice that’s outside of Alaska.

One of the things that I believe was a big negative for her in the last election was that they could suggest that she didn’t know what was going on in the lower 48, and this will give her an opportunity to connect with more people.

Not to say that my reservations are gone—but for her, I think it’s a good move all around.

During the campaign, one of the resounding issues was that of qualifications.  Sen. McCain was attempting to paint then Sen. Obama as someone that hadn’t lead much of anything, let alone a country.  When he made the choice of Gov. Sarah Palin to be his VP running mate, many then turned the discussion to ask whether she was qualified to run the government should something happen to Sen. McCain.

So, thinking through this, now’s a great opportunity to see, and perhaps settle the question.  If President-Elect Obama can do a decent job as President (especially with all that’s stacked up against him), then I figure that Gov. Palin could be ok, and that perhaps the media has set too high a bar for qualifications for President.

How do I get this?  Because the resume of President-Elect Obama is not what the media demanded of Gov. Palin—he has a skinnier one when it comes to executive leadership than she.

But I also don’t buy into the concept that the President has to be this super intelligent guy who knows everything about everything.  It’s not that I don’t want a smart President, but the man picks a whole group of people under him, and it’s those people’s job to be the ones that know a lot about their field of expertise.

So, I would put forth that the choices of the men and women that a President chooses to surround himself with, the President’s organization abilities and decision making abilities that really  matter, rather than some test about the intelligence quotient of the man.