Listening to Gov. Sarah Palin today announce her resignation, I couldn’t help but be impressed with her selflessness in saving Alaska from the trauma of her continuing in office. Now that she has decided not to run for reelection, she has also decided to hand over the keys to the governor’s office to Lt. Gov. Sean Parnell, because, as she described it, she is not the usual sort of politician. She believes she can fight for Alaskans with more success from the outside than the inside as a lame-duck governor, flopping around in her office in Juneau with no power, subject to the terrible mean-spirited partisanship that characterizes modern political discourse.

Far, far better – she says – to spare Alaskans all these distractions by giving up the office altogether, and instead traveling around the United States speaking up for energy independence, small government, and limited taxes – issues of paramount importance to Alaskans. Before making this momentous decision, she of course prayed, and then consulted her family. Her kids were unanimous in supporting her decision to resign the governorship – one even said “Hell, yeah!” Trig of course couldn’t speak but Sarah Palin was sure he was in agreement because he has taught her as much as she has taught him.

She admitted this was unconventional political behavior, but kept emphasizing she is an unconventional politician, always speaking the truth from her heart, just like she was right now, telling us publicly and truthfully why it was so important for her to give up her office so that she could give speeches at Republican fund raisers for the next three years.

The press is calling her announcement a bombshell, but it is more of a stink bomb. Sarah Palin’s lust for power and her profound disinterest in governance have been on display for quite some time, but never so obviously as now. Being governor was fun when oil prices were rocketing to $147/bbl and Alaska’s take of the Prudhoe Bay production allowed Sarah Palin to deliver beefy checks to every adult in the state. Now being governor is no fun at all. It is in fact downright miserable no matter what state you are from, including Alaska. State budgets are suffering enormous deficit and cash flow problems across the nation, and every governor has to make politically painful decisions about which programs to cut and whose taxes to raise. Many of our recent presidents rose to prominence as governors, but the statehouse has become just about the worse possible place for any politician to undertake a campaign for president.

Just when times get tough, just when Alaskans need unconventional thinking, imaginative leadership, difficult decisions, and an honest concern for the general welfare, Sarah Palin bows out. These are qualities she only talks about, because they are not qualities she possesses. She rose from Mayor of Wasilla to Governor of Alaska by virtue of her ability to talk a good game, to truck in platitudes and promises, and to affect an attitude of folksiness buttressed by a deep Christian faith. She left in her wake several investigations over abuse of office, a history of using taxpayer money for personal and family expenses, a pattern of deceit in her dealings with other politicians and government officials, and beyond that a habit of lying to the public.

Alaskans are now discovering who the real Sarah Palin is, the ugly Sarah Palin who has managed to estrange almost all her original friends and allies in the Alaskan Republican Party. Sarah Palin is now embarking on her quest to become President of the United States in 2012, bringing with her the many detestable qualities that lurk just below her superficial demeanor. Her surface glamour and glib pretenses to honesty and bold leadership fooled thousands of Alaskans. She is counting on these same falsities to fool you and millions of other Americans into electing her president.

She may well succeed. This is the same country and electorate that voted George W. Bush into the Oval Office a second time – an empty hat if ever there was one, someone who also lusted for power but lacked the skill or interest in honest governance. Maybe after four years of a grinding depression Americans will forget who brought these economic conditions to fruition, and vote for “real change” by electing a candidate who challenges us only to question which is greater: her ambition or her incompetence.