How Sarah Palin Can Make a Comeback and Stay True to Herself

She has an amazing personal story, and she should use it.

Sarah Palin’s rock-star status is fading fast. Rewind one year ago and cable news networks were carrying her speeches live and in their entirety; her book tour was attracting record crowds; her “One Nation” bus tour featured embedded network correspondents.

What a difference a year makes.

This week, Sarah Palin made news only because her contract wasn’t renewed by Fox News. This comes after she was a non-entity during the 2012 campaign, after her reality TV show about Alaska was canceled, and after her six-figure payments on the speaking circuit dried up.

In a nation divided by politics, Sarah Palin was one of its most polarizing figures. Now she doesn’t have the star power to elicit that kind of passion.

If you read the stories this week, you’d have seen there are still posts and comments from her haters and admirers online. But the admirers now just wish her well, instead of vowing their everlasting loyalty; and the haters just wish she would go away.

That is not going to happen. Palin has pledged to campaign and fund-raise for conservative Congressional candidates, both in person and through her Super PAC.

But Sarah Palin has been there, done that with great success. If she is less successful this time around, it will give the media the opportunity to sound the death knell on her political career.

Sarah Palin needs a reboot and to forget politics for a while.

Before Katie Couric, Tina Fey, Game Change, “death panels,” and accusing President Obama of “pallin’ around with terrorists,” Sarah Palin was the most popular governor in the country. She has an amazing personal story that so many Americans can relate to; she is the proud mother of a child with Down’s syndrome.

When Sarah Palin’s baby Trig was born, she released a statement that made her an instant heroine of parents with special needs children. “We have faith that every baby is created for good purpose and has potential to make the world a better place. We are truly blessed.”

When Sarah Palin gave her stunning speech at the 2008 Republican convention, she said, “To the families of special needs children all across this country, I have a message: For years, you sought to make America a more welcoming place for your sons and daughters. I pledge to you that if we are elected, you will have a friend and advocate in the White House.”

And when she campaigned for the McCain-Palin ticket, parents would show up with their special needs children because they felt a special connection with the candidate. When Palin worked the rope line, the most touching moments were when she spent time with the children and their parents. It was a rare site: an ugly political campaign pleasantly interrupted by unmanufactured moments of empathy and love.

Why doesn’t Palin keep her convention pledge and be a friend, an advocate and a hero to families with special needs children? She could use her name, her charisma and her impressive fund-raising ability to help those families.

It would be the best thing Sarah Palin could do for America … and for Sarah Palin.