Palin and Christie are "outsie".

This week, two major political Republican figures have announced that they will not be running for the presidency. One of which is New Jersey governor Chris Christie, who has received a fair amount of pressure to run in the 2012 election. I posted a seemingly joking video on him saying “No” to the offer. But as I got over the humor of his responses, I have a fair amount of respect for him giving the answer that he did. He states that in order to run for president, the candidate must know that they are ready in their heart and soul to take on such a powerful position of office. Whether or not I personally want him to run or not, I can respect a Politian who knows that the job would be too much at his current state of mind and personal place. He never bashed being the governor of NJ while he declined the pressure to run for President. I think it also shows a realization that Christie is well aware that the presidency is no joke, and the responsibilities in which it holds are something that he is not capable of at this moment. I’m not sure how many people are upset that he’s not running, but I feel people certainly can respect his decision to not fool the American people into thinking he is something that he isn’t.

The second of the Republican “No Shows” for this upcoming election is Sarah Palin. I’ve gotten my Sarah Palin jokes out of the way… And that is exactly my point for why I, surprising, respect her decision in a positive way. Most see her as a cartoon character. But I wouldn’t say that she’s dumb. She’s is an amazing self promoter and, really, has boomed in the last 3 years because of that self promotion.  I don’t look at her decision to sit out this round as a “doing this nation  a favor”. Some people would want her to run because of the publicity, and sheer entertainment she’d bring to the election. Perhaps she’s better than that. Perhaps we are fools for buying into the “Palin joke” mentality that is easy to fall into. From CNN.com, she states : "As always, my family comes first and obviously Todd and I put great consideration into family life before making this decision," Palin said in a written statement. "When we serve, we devote ourselves to God, family and country. My decision maintains this order."

Take her comments the way you will. But like Christie, I respect her decision. If she went against her morals and simply ran just for the publicity, she wouldn’t be serving the country as dedicatedly as she says she does, and frankly has been aiming to do since the 2008 election.

Sure , they might seem funny to us- these giant political cartoons- but they’re decisions are worth of a little respect from us, the American public. Leave the jokes at home, folks, because they thought this through.

Cited: http://articles.cnn.com/2011-10-05/politics/politics_palin-presidency_1_palin-family-sarah-palin-gop-presidential-hopefuls?_s=PM:POLITICS