With the Republican Party increasingly leaderless and seemingly on a descent into the maelstrom, the conservative/moderate remnant may require a galvanic force. A leader. An opposition on the British model, the sort of opposition rarely seen in America - if ever.

There's Bobby Jindal of Louisiana. And Tim Pawlenty of Minnesota. And Governor, maybe soon a senator, Charlie Crist of Florida. And Sen. John Thune of South Dakota. And there's always former governor Mitt Romney of Massachusetts, and former governor Mike Huckabee of Arkansas.

Sarah Palin may see them as failing or flawed. And with the ethics process in Alaska having been turned against her for partisan/ideological purposes, and proving crippling financially, and a disabling distraction, she may have decided that if she is even to try to serve as a catalytic agent for conservatives and moderates nationwide, she has to devote her energies to that task full-time.

It won't be easy. And does she have the gravitas, the intellectual heft?

They - the nameless "they" who rule the world - said Ronald Reagan was just a B movie actor lacking gravitas and heft, too. What's more, it's a new landscape and a game perhaps never played before. And heaven knows, conservatives and moderates - the Republican remnant - need someone. Someone to start saying....

That government under the Obama administration is the nation's primary growth industry. That the more power government accrues, the more government fails. That deficits and taxes destroy productivity and innovation. That energy independence - including nuclear power - is as important for the United States as it is (as Obama notes repeatedly) for Iran. That one of the two most important things a government must do is stabilize the currency.

That socialized medicine and cap-and-trade are the wrong ways to go. That having Hawaii or Alaska or Des Moines targeted by North Korean nuclear missiles is unacceptable. That joining the Fidelista-Chavista chorus regarding Honduras is idiocy. That Islamo-jihadists still are warring against us - and the other crucial thing the government must do is defend the citizenry.

So is Sarah the one to say such things?

We may be about to find out.