Palin Needed a Rove

In 1966, a San Francisco reporter wanted to interview Ronald Reagan, who was then a candidate for governor of California. The idea was to get a glimpse of Reagan at his ranch. Prior to the reporter's arrival, Reagan aide Lyn Nofziger -- who himself had been a journalist -- noticed the future president was wearing English riding boots. Sensing this would make the candidate seem effete, Nofziger wisely sent Reagan back inside to put on some Western riding clothes, and thus the image of Reagan as cowboy was born.

Reagan was a bright and charismatic man, but wise guides were instrumental in helping him achieve his goals. Aside from his wife Nancy's help, he surrounded himself with smart advisers, including Nofziger, Mike Deaver, and James Baker -- to name just a few.

Not everybody is as prepared. The tragedy of Sarah Palin's recent press conference announcing her resignation as governor of Alaska flows from the sense that so much potential has been wasted.

Though pundits will continue postulating theories for what happened, one safe assumption is that Palin -- for whatever reason -- lacked a Sherpa. To be sure, her political skills were sufficient enough to navigate Alaskan politics, but they were sorely deficient when it came to the big leagues. In fact, her early success may have taught her the wrong lessons -- namely that micro-managing worked. While nobody is 100 percent sure how her operation worked, it appears she and her husband, Todd, essentially handled everything. They also brought along a team of high school friends who worked for the governor -- but it appears she called all the shots, down to scheduling events and writing speeches. As such, it appears she lacked any independent voices to help her navigate the treacherous waters of national politics.

In fact, most successful politicians have had trusted advisers: McKinley had Mark Hanna, FDR had Louis Howe, JFK had Ted Sorensen, the Bushes had Lee Atwater and Karl Rove, Bill Clinton had James Carville, and Obama has David Axelrod. Even Mike Huckabee went out and got an old hand in Ed Rollins.

While candidates should never cede complete control to hired guns, having wise and trusted advisers -- who feel free to say "the emperor has no clothes" -- are an absolute necessity for avoiding disaster.

Of course, it's also fair to mention that most candidates who achieve national attention spend years working and tweaking their organizations before they make it to the big leagues. Often, their advisers have helped them grow into the role, just as a boxing trainer might identify a young talent and help him mature before putting the fighter in the ring. And sometimes candidates have to make changes along the way; Reagan, for example, dispatched campaign manager John Sears before making it to the presidency.

Regardless, one has the sense that Palin got the idea for this press conference and then hastily put it together. But there are many reasons for politicians to be wary of their own instincts. Conservative icon Morton Blackwell says that upon filing for political office, "every candidate promptly loses about 30 IQ points." He's right. A candidate who runs his own campaign is similar to the man who represents himself in court -- he has a fool for a client. What is more, because candidates are emotionally tied to attacks, they may respond emotionally, not logically -- yet another reason to have dispassionate advice.

There may be many reasons to explain Sarah Palin's bizarre decisions of late, but one thing is painfully clear: Even the most talented and charismatic politician needs a Sherpa to make it to the mountaintop.