Former vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin on Thursday sought to rally her fellow Republican governors, saying they have to lead by example to help the GOP out of its slump.

“We’re going to be walking the walk of true reform within our states,” Palin, the Alaska governor, said at a meeting of the Republican Governors Association. “We will lead by example. The nation needs us.”

“We are held accountable every day. The buck stops on our desk. We’re not just one of many voting ‘yea’ or ‘nay’ or ‘present.’ No, there is no ‘present’ button in our office, is there? We have to make the tough decisions,” she said in a reference to Obama’s highly publicized “present” votes in the Illinois legislature.

Palin also invoked “Joe the Plumber,” who was a staple in her campaign rhetoric, at the onset of her speech.

In addition, she hit Democrats for not addressing domestic energy production on the campaign trail, and for their healthcare plans.

She also criticized Republicans in Washington for having lost their way.

“In every great reform effort there is an element of self-reform. And Republicans cannot shy away from that challenge either. We must see reform within,” she said. “The costs of war and security alone — that cannot explain a federal debt that's grown to more than $10 trillion. Washington, D.C., leaders spent public money in disregard of the public interest, just like the opponents that they used to criticize.”

Ahead of her speech, during a brief news conference, Palin said that Republican governors “don’t let excessive, extreme partisanship get in the way of just doing what's right for the people who have hired us, the constituents in our states.”

The GOP governors, Palin said, are a group that “is going to be looked to and looked at for leadership that perhaps had been lacking in Congress and in Washington, D.C.”