Former Alaska governor Sarah Palin wouldn’t reveal her political plans for 2012 in an interview with Barbara Walters, but when asked whether she would play a major role replied that “if people will have me, I will.”
The former Republican vice presidential candidate said the next presidential election wasn’t even on her radar.
“My ambition, if you will, my desire is to help our country in whatever role that may be, and I cannot predict what that will be, what doors will be open in the year 2012,” she told Walters.
Palin is making the rounds to promote her new book, Going Rogue, which was released yesterday.
On Monday, she appeared on the The Oprah Winfrey Show, and ABC released excerpts of the interview with Walters that was to begin airing on newscasts yesterday.
Palin said she would rate US President Barack Obama’s performance a 4 out of 10. She criticized the president for his handling of the economy and for “dithering” on national security questions.
“There are a lot of decisions being made that I — and probably the majority of Americans — are not impressed with right now,” she said on ABC.
The title of Palin’s book refers to a phrase Senator John McCain’s campaign used to describe his vice presidential running mate going off message. In the book, she criticizes the people who ran McCain’s campaign and says she wished she had been allowed to speak more freely. But she told Walters the outcome probably would not have been different if she had.
“The economy tanked,” she said. “[The] electorate was ready, sincerely, for change.”
Palin said she’s gotten plenty of offers during the past few months, including to open up her family for a TV reality show, which she rejected. She also said she wasn’t sure whether a talk show would be best for her family.
During her interview with Winfrey, which was taped last week, Palin said that it’s heartbreaking to see the road that Levi Johnston, the father of her grandson, has taken and that the soon-to-be nude model for the Playgirl Web site hasn’t seen his baby in a while.
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