Sarah Palin, Political Genius

That's the analysis of former California Assembly Speaker and San Francisco Mayor Willie Brown, one of the shrewdest political talents in the state:

The pundits are wrong. Conventional wisdom is wrong. Sarah Palin's decision to step down as Alaska governor was a brilliant move.

Palin has some of the best political instincts I have ever seen. She became a pop-culture superstar overnight when John McCain made her his veep pick, and she's still second only to President Obama among politicians the public is interested in. Even in liberal San Francisco, she'd be front-page news if she ever came to town.

But that kind of celebrity comes at a high price. What a lot of people don't know is that Palin entered Alaska politics as a reformer attacking the corruption of the state's Republican establishment. As such, she was the darling of the Democrats - until she hooked up with McCain.

After the election, with Palin back home but positioning herself for a 2012 presidential run, it was clear she would catch nothing but ridicule from Alaska's Democrats. It was not going to be pretty.

If Palin wants to play on the national field, she has to be free to move around. She has to be able to drop into Indiana, Ohio or Tennessee and help Republican candidates raise money. She has to be available for radio and TV.

She has to be like Gavin Newsom, free to roam around the country, safe in the knowledge that things will pretty much take care of themselves back home.

Instead, Palin faced the prospect of being constantly pinned down in a state that is a day and a half away from the rest of America. She would have been totally isolated in every sense of the word.

Now she can study up on issues where she is lacking and become a full-time political celebrity.

The pundits call her a quitter, but let's be honest - the pundits never liked her to begin with. Better to take one hit for stepping down and move on than to stay in Alaska and die a death by a thousand cuts.

Governor or not, Palin is still the biggest star in the Republican galaxy. After all, who else have they got?

The theory is that rather than play Gulliver to the Alaskan Democrats Lilliputians, she's going to free herself to go whenever and and wherever the political winds blow. I'm not sure it's a bad strategy.

I still don't see her as a viable choice in 2012, and I'm not sure why she'd want to risk wasting an opportunity against an incumbent president who will still likely be popular even if his policies are disastrous, but I think her prospects in 2016 could be very bright.

We'll see.

UPDATE: If anyone thinks Palin's resignation means she plans to disappear from the political scene, Time Magazine has this quote from her:

"'I will go around the country on behalf of candidates who believe in the right things, regardless of their party label or affiliation."