Sarah Palin

With painful fits and struggles, Sarah Palin has birthed her way back into the national spotlight. Her memoir, Going Rogue, made the best-seller list online more than a month before it was even released. Earlier this week she was on “Oprah” to promote her book and to proclaim her return to the political zeitgeist.

So should we take Palin seriously as a 2012 GOP candidate? On “This Week” with George Stephanopoulos, roundtable commentator David Brooks was harshly dismissive of the idea, calling Palin a “joke.” Fellow commentator George Will was a little more restrained, observing, “This is what happens in the vacuum of a third year out from a presidential election.”

Be that as it may, you can’t deny that Palin has juice. In the first six months of 2009, Palin's political action committee raised $733,000. Why? Because at least one-third of the country (i.e., “the heartland”) remains enamored with her compelling mix of values talk and sexual confidence. These qualities may not bode well for intelligent discourse, but they will ensure that Palin will be able to connect with the anxieties of blue-collar America — and women.

As long as the economy remains in a downturn, you cannot underestimate the degree to which middle-class voters will be drawn to her folksy, outsider shtick. Her ability to corral the middle class and the religious right puts Palin in the conversation for 2012. Sadly, it also emphasizes just how bereft of ideas the Republican Party has become.


Williams can be heard nightly on Sirius/XM Power 169 from 9 to 10 p.m. EST.

Visit www.armstrongwilliams.com.