Cold realities await Palin in Alaska

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(China Daily)
Updated: 2008-11-19 07:47

Governor Sarah Palin, heralded by some conservatives as the future of the Republican Party, faces cold political realities when she returns to work running the US state of Alaska.

Within days of the McCain-Palin ticket's defeat earlier this month, the unsuccessful Republican vice presidential nominee capped her tumultuous two months on the campaign trail with a whirlwind series of national media interviews and an appearance at the Republican Governors Association meeting in Florida.

Now it's back to her day job at the state capital in Juneau.

Palin's state budget proposal is due in a month, with plummeting oil prices slashing Alaska's revenues by billions of dollars.

The 2,700-km natural gas pipeline she bragged about on the campaign trail is nowhere near being built.

Some hard feelings linger over her administration's initial decision to ignore subpoenas in the investigation of whether she abused her power in firing the public safety commissioner who wouldn't oust her ex-brother-in-law from his job as a state trooper.

It is unclear whether the bipartisanship that existed during Palin's 20 months as governor can survive the heated rhetoric from the presidential campaign and her own political ambitions. The 44-year-old has signaled she's open to a bid for president in 2012.

The difficult task at hand "provides the governor with a great opportunity to roll up her sleeves and get back to her job," said Kenneth Khachigian, a former adviser to President Ronald Reagan. "She's got four or five election cycles ahead of her where she can do things. She doesn't have to comment on 2012 or 2016. Being a good governor is the best thing she can do right now."

Agencies

(China Daily 11/19/2008 page11)