Sarah Palin Must Heed Yogi Berra

So far, so good for Sarah Palin and her popularity with Tea Partiers, writes Donald Kettl, but in “leading a group that doesn’t want a leader” the presumptive 2012 presidential candidate must avoid “separating herself from the rest of the country.” It's a near impossible balancing act, and Palin needs to listen to Yogi Berra: “When you come to a fork in the road—take it.”

Obviously, Kettl writes in the Washington Post, Palin needs to demonstrate leadership, both to her base and to the wider electorate. With the Tea Partiers, this means translating “charisma into a direction.” But will the “leaderless Tea Partiers stay with her if she tries to lead them?” Conversely, if she tries to “prove her substantive chops, and “branch beyond her intense but narrow base,” it could “undermine her base support.” It’s a tough situation, Kettl writes. Palin needs to not make, in Berra's words, “too many wrong mistakes.” (More Election 2012 stories.)