GUEST OPINION

A surprise is when you walk into a room and everyone jumps out of closets and from behind sofas and yells "surprise!" usually because it's your birthday. A surprise can also be an awful thing like coming home to find two guys in your living room making off with your brand new flat screen and your grandmothers' china. Is the fact that Sarah Palin suddenly resigned from her Alaskan governorship this week a surprise? I don't think so.

The media displayed its usual attitude of shock and dismay at the news while simultaneously debating the cause of Michael Jackson's death. On CNN, the caption under her speech read "reasons are unclear." The timing, just before Independence Day weekend, was a bit bizarre, I must admit. Was she hoping the fireworks and beer would deflect the news? I doubt it.

I believe Palin's timing was contrived for the opposite reason. The media blitz surrounding her shortened term as chief executive of Alaska certainly got the tongues wagging. And after all, any type of publicity is going to keep her in the limelight. As painful as it is for some to watch, Sarah Palin is setting the stage.

PALIN Are Palin's reasons really unclear? Well, that's where the know-it-alls come in to explain her behavior to us. Republicans and Democrats alike cannot agree on her motive. REALLY? Big shock there! Some said it was a "nutty decision" and added that she should have finished her term. It seems that if you are elected governor of your state, you have the responsibility to at least finish out your term, correct? Nope, wrong answer! This IS politics, after all. It's not about responsibility to the citizens, it's about a little thing called AMBITION. And Sarah Palin, as humble and ordinary as she seeks to appear, has plenty of it.

The fact is, that as governor of the great state of Alaska, Palin cannot juggle her duties as governor and run a campaign for the presidency at the same time. The largest population centers of the lower 48 are thousands of miles away from her state and four time zones from the east coast. The last time I checked, you had to do a lot of traveling to campaign for the presidency.

As I continue to watch the debating unfold, I see headlines like "Analysts struggle with Palin's motivations" (courtesy of ABC News) and I realize, I, myself, am NOT surprised. Although Palin hasn't given the public a clear reason in so many words, it's a pretty good assumption that she is priming herself for the 2012 election as a GOP candidate. The talking heads don't have to tell me that.

All you have to do is look at the closing statement in her speech: "In the words of Gen. MacArthur, "We are not retreating. We are advancing in another direction." I'm pretty certain she doesn't mean on the soccer field. Pardon the obvious soccer mom reference.

SarahPac.com is still accepting political contributions and a quick check on Palin's Facebook page makes her intentions even more blatantly obvious. She writes, "I am now looking ahead and how we can advance this country together with our values of less government intervention, greater energy independence, stronger national security, and much needed fiscal restraint… Now is the time to rebuild and help our nation achieve greatness."

Love her or hate her, we haven't seen the end of Sarah Palin and her "no more of politics as usual" speech. The big "surprise" will be if she DOES NOT make a bid for the presidency in 2012.