APPROACHING THE LOWERED BAR:

Palin's new pressure and potential payoff (Mark Davis, July 7, 2009, Dallas Morning News)

Talk about nerve. The very notion of leaving an elected office occupied for barely two years. Even if it is to run for president, that makes it even more peculiar in view of the candidate's lightweight résumé of political experience.

I refer, of course, to Barack Obama.

Cheap stunt, but it makes my point. [...]

One difference is that Obama did it on the public dime, while still technically a U.S. senator. Palin at least has the decency to pursue her "higher calling" without the necessary long stretches away from her actual job.