I honestly don’t know what to say.  I don’t get it.  Luckily I’m not alone, because it seems nobody else does either.  Some people are trying to guess the reasons, citing burnout or family reasons or some as-of-yet hidden scandal, but until Palin says something herself or some other kind of news arises, guess is all we can do.

My sense of the response to the news from across the media and blogosphere is one of utter confusion in most places, but apart from Palinistas like Conservatives4Palin, the response from the pundits is pretty overwhelmingly negative thus far, even from conservatives.  It is strange.  Government officials typically resign for only a couple reasons: 1) Scandals 2)To “spend more time with the family” 3)Medical reasons.  Of those three, #2 is usually only common with appointed officials like Cabinet members.  Politicians typically don’t resign because of negative media attention, even at the level that Palin has gotten.  If such were the case, George W. Bush would have resigned well before his second term was completed.

I also don’t buy the lame duck excuse because no politician is a lame duck until the period between an election and the end of a politician’s time in office.  She either really doesn’t understand what a lame duck is (and I assume she does), or she’s hoping her constituents won’t.  Unfortunately, not everybody follows politics as close as other people, so maybe she’s trying to speak to the uninterested here, hoping it slips through.  I don’t think it will.

I think Ed Morrissey at Hot Air puts it best when he writes “Palin’s abandoning  her post, and at least from her own description, doing it because she doesn’t want to deal with the issues of being a “lame duck,” a status all politicians have to handle at some point.”  He’s right.  You don’t resign unless there’s a very good reason to do so.  That may be the case.  The speech gave very little detail over her thought process, other than vague references to a lame duck period that won’t happen for over a year.  So, there could be something else there.  If so, though, why not just announce it?  If there is some kind of illness in the family, I can understand wanting to have privacy, but with a national profile like hers, it’s eventually going to get out anyway.  Better to say it now and end the speculation before it starts, yes?

The way all of this going down will give the perception to many that she’s only interested in her own ambitions, even at the expense of her own fellow Alaskans.  Even if the reports of her no longer planning to run for president in 2012 are true, I think jumping ship now, without a valid for doing so, will put a bad taste in Alaskans’ mouths.  Americans are not interested in leaders who up-and-run at the moment things seem tough.  They want people there who will do their utmost best to represent them at all times, and leaving office now makes Palin seem like someone who isn’t as tough as they might have hoped.  In any case, it will come back to haunt her should she wish to run for president.

Finally, I’d note that there seems to be an insistence by Palin to keep this focused on the fact she’s not running for re-election rather than the resignation.  This is perhaps best exemplified in a recent Tweet which says, “We’ll soon attach info on decision to not seek re-election… this is in Alaska’s best interest, my family’s happy… it is good, stay tuned”

Palin may wish to try and control the way the story goes, but the fact she is resigning in such a bizarre way has already taken it out of her hands.  A decision not to run for a second term would certainly be news, but it is relatively common enough that it would be treated much differently.  I think the story is going to remain about the resignation, and given the reaction throughout even most of the conservative blogosphere, she won’t be able to demonize the media for it and retain credibility.

Those are my thoughts.  I have a brief punditry round-up after the jump.

Jim Geraghty at NRO: “Departing with little or no warning, after about 30 months in office, is beyond surprising. I’m sure the Lieutenant Governor will do fine, but there’s definately a sense of leaving with work unfinished and as her career was just beginning to take off.”

Ace at Ace of Spades HQ: “And that is that.

It’s over. You can’t resign from a governorship and then run for higher office. Barring some strong reason, like needing treatment for cancer.”

Steve Benen and Hilzoy at Washington Monthly: “Walking away from the governor’s office after one term is incredibly foolish — but walking away from the governor’s office after two and a half years in office is stupefying.”

Kathryn Jean Lopez at NRO’s The Corner: “If she is stepping down because of what politics has done to her family, because of something in her family life she doesn’t want to see as David Letterman fodder, because it’s impossible to be governor, a star, and a mom to an infant … this is good. It demonstrates good judgment and priorities.”

Allahpundit at Hot Air: “Bill Kristol thinks resigning now could actually be a bold gambit to free herself up for an intense presidential campaign, but I think she’s following more of a Nixonian strategy here. I.e. it could be she’s burned out on politics and dispirited by all the crap she’s put up with it and wants to get away at an opportune moment. If, as is likely, The One wins a second term, the GOP will be so dejected that it’ll happily give her a second look as a potential savior in 2016, much as it did with Nixon after he lost the 1960 presidential election and 1962 California gubernatorial race. The question is, what does she do with herself in the meantime?”

Here’s some of what Kristol said: “Now she can do her book, give speeches, travel the country and the world, campaign for others, meet people, get more educated on the issues – and without being criticized for neglecting her duties in Alaska. I suppose she’ll take a hit for leaving the governorship early – but how much of one? She’s probably accomplished most of what she was going to get done as governor, and is leaving a sympatico lieutenant governor in charge.”