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Sarah Palin Must Heed Yogi Berra

She has to somehow lead the leader-shunning Tea Party

By Harry Kimball,  Newser Staff

Posted Feb 9, 2010 1:25 PM CST

(Newser) – So far, so good for Sarah Palin and her popularity with Tea Partiers, writes Donald Kettl, but in “leading a group that doesn’t want a leader” the presumptive 2012 presidential candidate must avoid “separating herself from the rest of the country.” It's a near impossible balancing act, and Palin needs to listen to Yogi Berra: “When you come to a fork in the road—take it.”

Obviously, Kettl writes in the Washington Post, Palin needs to demonstrate leadership, both to her base and to the wider electorate. With the Tea Partiers, this means translating “charisma into a direction.” But will the “leaderless Tea Partiers stay with her if she tries to lead them?” Conversely, if she tries to “prove her substantive chops, and “branch beyond her intense but narrow base,” it could “undermine her base support.” It’s a tough situation, Kettl writes. Palin needs to not make, in Berra's words, “too many wrong mistakes.”

Sarah Palin.
Sarah Palin.   (AP Photo)
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She proved in Nashville that she can draw big crowds by tapping into the emerging army of populist/libertarians. But even the tea partiers at some point will need a flag behind which to gather. - Donald Kettl, dean of the School of Public Policy at the University of Maryland

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COMMENTS
Showing 3 of 74 comments
riffran
Feb 12, 2010 8:45 AM CST
my bad ..but you sure seemed fixatated on "eating" Palin..just a thought..lmao
myvoice
Feb 10, 2010 12:28 PM CST
OSU... it took me two hours to respond cause i have a job! To argue someone who cant even finish what she started has more experience is not a good argument to me. You really think being Mayor of Wasilla is executive experience? Its a little town fewer than 7,000 residents. And just because she was governor of Alaska does not mean she was good at executive decisions. But again we just disagree on who is a better person to lead this country. And go ahead and vote for her for president and I will vote for Obama. And then we will see who gets elected.
thekeepitrealman
Feb 10, 2010 12:12 PM CST
How do you guys stomach this woman?

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