Barack Obama Would Crush Sarah Palin in 2012

US News & World Report: Barack Obama Would Crush Sarah Palin in 2012
The last week like every other week has been interesting one for Sarah Palin. She wouldn’t have it any other way even if her actions diminish her stature. As long as the media spells her name correctly, she’s a happy camper.


The former half-term and half-baked Alaska governor is taking a world tour which includes stops in Israel and India. Is this trip a prelude to a presidential campaign or is it just a way of keeping her name before the public? Either way it’s not working out well for her. In India, she spoke at a press conference and she announced that she would not criticize the American president while she was on foreign soil. Then without taking a breath she proceeded to criticize him. This is a classic example of why most Americans dislike Palin. She says one thing and then does another just like the establishment politicians she mocks. Americans are looking for consistency and stability in a president and commander in chief and for most Americans she falls short on both counts. [See political cartoons about Sarah Palin.]

Charlie Sheen’s mania is one of the few things that is rising faster than Palin’s negatives. National polls indicate that the former Republican vice presidential candidate is the most unpopular political figure in the United States. If Palin ran for president, she and her party would be crushed by Barack Obama and the Democrats. No wonder that the conservative GOP political guru Karl Rove is scared to death that she might be the Republican nominee. [See photos of Palin and her family.]

But Palin is not the GOP’s biggest problem, she is just a symptom of the challenge that confronts Republicans. The big obstacle in the party‘s effort to topple the president in 2012 is that the party activists who dominate the presidential selection process are right wing zealots who are always sure of themselves but never right. Palin probably won’t run but the remaining candidates are tripping all over each other trying to fill the vast right wing vacuum that Palin would leave open if she doesn’t run. While the shadow of Sarah Palin hovers over them, the GOP candidates move further and further to the right. Meanwhile Barack Obama will rush in to fill the void at the center of American politics. [See editorial cartoons about the Tea Party.]

With an enemy like Sarah Palin, Barack Obama doesn't need many friends and he may not have many unless the economy gets better soon.