Passenger from Wasilla

As an airport shuttle driver, I had an interesting passenger from Wasilla, Alaska. She knows Sarah Palin as a casual acquaintance, as do many people in Wasilla. The lady was of similar age. She considered Palin as a regular person of the common folk, a fellow Wasillan.

While Sarah was governor, she was down-to-earth and easily accessible. They'd meet at the local supermarket and chit chat. But when she became running mate of John McCain, things changed. All of a sudden, she became surrounded by security people and hounded by the media.

My passenger identified herself as a centrist. Yet she loved Sarah Palin as a governor because "she is a fighter" who fought "for the people of Alaska" ... whereas the "special interests" were of no match to her. Sarah has moxie.

But when Sarah Palin resigned as governor, the native Wasillans were hugely disappointed. The successor Sean Parnell is "terrible" as governor. I asked my passenger ... why? She replied, it doesn't have much to do with his actual political positions ... it's that Gov. Parnell has no backbone. He is not a fighter like Sarah Palin. Special interests walk all over him. And Parnell caves in to Washington bureaucrats, not fighting to open up Anwar for oil. [This was my passenger's opinion.]

Meanwhile, the writer/publicist who moved next door to the Palins "to spy on her" is considered somewhat as a joke by the Wasillans. And so Sarah Palin no longer has any privacy. At the grocery store, people would know right away if Sarah happened to be shopping there. The half-dozen security cars parked in the lot would be the hint. (Presumably, they are scanning the premises for bad guys.) So when my passenger sees Sarah at the market, she still says hello ... but now seems more rushed. No time for casual conversation.