Sean O'Brien: Sarah Palin Will Run For President in 2012 - Count on It

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At Philly2Philly, Sean O'Brien is convinced:

Sarah Palin has not even come close to announcing that she is going to run for President. But, doesn't it seem inevitable? We know this because of her current and past actions. She knows this because of the impact her very presence makes everywhere. Every time she stirs the passions of supporters and detractors she generates political gold in the form of attention. That alone gives her a seemingly significant chance to win any election, because swing voters in these times seem to be choosing fighters, not diplomats.

Palin also knows she is going to run because of the Hillary Clinton factor... Sometimes unexpected events create a realization that formerly denigrated people aren't one dimensional cartoon figures. Empathy can create reexamination of beliefs.

This is what is going to happen to Sarah the second time she steps onto the national stage.

The attacks on Palin and her family have resonated well for her, plus she seems primed to pull more female votes than McCain did.

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Palin's entire political career is filled with overcoming long odds and eventually winning. People who thought they knew that she would never make it, watched her win Alaskan elections ranging from City Council, to Mayor, to Governor between 1992-2006. The same political personality types must have thought that Reagan would not be elected President of the Screen Actors Guild, Governor of California, and then twice elected President of the United States. But he was. A few decades later, between January, 1997 and January, 2009 Barack Obama went from winning an Illinois State Senate Seat, to being sworn in as President of the United States. Impressive people accomplish impressive things and often do so more easily because their opposition underestimates their capacity.

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Sarah Palin may, or may not, win the nomination of her party and then become our first female President in January, 2013. The opposition within her own party will be the strongest she has ever faced. But, who has been putting all of the pieces in place to win the most important popularity contest we have? All of her actions say she is going to run...

You can read O'Brien's unedited op-ed here.

- JP