How Sarah Palin Can Win the 2012 Presidential Election

I noticed something this past year.  You probably noticed it, too.  After Sarah Palin was announced as the VP candidate on the Republican ticket, the media went after her.  They didn’t just point out her lack of qualifications; they got viciously personal with it.

Why?  They’re scared.  She connects with people.  She’s pro-life.  She’s attractive.  She’s got a certain charm about her.  And that scares them.  She could be a real threat – if she were qualified.  Fortunately for the Democrats, she wasn’t even close to being qualified this year.  If Palin wants to be a threat on the Republican ticket in 2012, she’s got a lot of work to do.  Here are a few items that top my list:

Learn to Interview.
That Katie Couric interview is just painful to watch.  That’s the one that we all think of when we think of Palin’s shortcomings in interviews, but that was just one interview.  A lot of interviews with Palin showed her obviously stumped on questions, stumbling her way through an answer.  She’s got to be able to think on her feet, and a big part of that is to know what she’s talking about.

Think Globally.
Sarah Palin has to spend the next four years studying every political leader of every foreign country.  She has to know exactly what’s going on in those countries, how it affects the United States, and she needs to have a plan for how she would interact with each of those leaders.  There can be no excuses here.  She has to know what’s going on and be able to convince Americans that she’s got a viable foreign policy plan.

Get Executive Experience.
Palin will get some executive experience in the rest of her term as Governor of Alaska, but she needs to be actively thinking about how each situation, meeting, and decision can better prepare her for the office of the President.  Applying her experience has to be at the forefront of her mind every day if she hopes to be in the Republican primary election as anything more than a token female.

Go Conservative.
America is on the verge of some very tough years.  Recent financial misbehavior by our federal government (led in part by the “conservative” Republican White House) has guaranteed us that this will get worse before it gets better.  Governor Palin is the pretty new face for the Republican Party, with strong support in the party’s base, but she needs to lead the GOP back to true conservatism.  Tax less.  Spend less.  Protect personal liberties.  She needs to lead the way with Alaska through the rest of her term by setting an example on true conservatism.  If the Party keeps drifting towards the center, no Republican will have a chance of winning in 2012.

Watch Obama.
Governor Palin needs to know everything Barack Obama does.  Every decision, every meeting, every speech.  She needs to keep record of each mistake, all broken promises, and every bad thing that happens on Obama’s watch.  More importantly, she needs to know what decision he should have made, why he should have made it, and what different outcome the correct decision would have brought.  Pointing out his failures will not work; Palin must have strong, specific examples about bad Obama policy in order to convince Republicans (and the more conservative Obama fans) that she’s ready and able to lead.

Something Else?
Did I miss something?  What else does she need to do to prepare herself for a run in 2012?  Does she have a chance, even if she does these 5 things?

Tagged as: 2012 election, Barack Obama, Conservatism, election, Fiscal Conservatism, foreign policy, Katie Couric, Presidential Election, pro-life, Sarah Palin