Sarah Palin announced on July 3 that she would be stepping down as Alaska’s governor to…Well, we’re not totally sure what she’s going to do now that Lt. Gov. Sean Parnell is overseeing the Land of the Midnight Sun. But one thing is certain — she will not be forgotten.
Today, the clip currently circulating in farewell tribute is not an online original, but instead The Tonight Show with Conan O’Brien’s first viral hit. Last night, Conan brought out classically trained thespian William Shatner (and make all the fun you want of Shatner, kids, but the man began his career as a Shakespearean actor) to perform a section of Palin’s farewell address to her people.
Reinterpreted as beat poetry (which, yes, Shatner also has some experience with), Palin’s grammatically flawed, relatively incoherent ramblings are transformed into…well, certainly not sense. But there is an elegance to the treatment of it, which speaks more to the power of great oratory and bongo drums than it does to the actual words being spoken. But the ramblings do reveal a genuine passion for her home state.
Of course, later in the same speech she got snarky about Ashley Judd’s criticism of aerial wolf hunts, crying foul on Hollywood for its anti-gun rhetoric — which, as Jon Stewart pointed out last night, is somewhat ridiculous. But perhaps Palin is just venting some Tina Fey-related angst, and who can blame her?
What Palin brought to the world of pop culture, online video in particular, was a combination of charisma and absurdity that drew people in no matter what side of the political spectrum they called home. And the people chose to watch her on an unprecedented scale using the tools at their disposal. Her occasional signs of self-awareness, such as her guest appearance on Saturday Night Live, were a major draw, but incidents like the Katie Couric interview fell into the category of “see it to believe it” — which is how viral video is made.
Even after the election, she still had the ability to get our attention — albeit through embarrassing gaffs, as opposed to political victory. In many ways, Palin was the Lucy Ricardo of American politics — we never knew what mess she’d be getting into next.
Why is she resigning? One of the dominant theories of this Time piece is that because of the many lawsuits that have been brought against her over the past eight months, she and husband Todd are finanically strapped. The resignation frees Palin up for speaking engagements, which can be highly lucrative and will hopefully pay off the family’s legal fees. It’s also a key step necessary to the perfect position for Palin — that of a pundit, not a politician. I, for one, am relieved that her voice will still be around, because it’s always interesting to listen to, even when you’re not quite sure what she’s talking about.
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