Speaking from her home in Wasilla, Sarah Palin quoted Douglas MacArthur as she explained why would resign as Alaska governor: "We're not retreating, we are advancing in another direction."

Palin said that as she considered this move, she polled her family and put the choice to them this way: "Do you want me to make a positive difference and fight for all our children's future from outside the governor's office?"

For everyone trying to read 2012 tea leaves from today's stunning announcement, those are just some of the clues. As for the decision to resign, she said that came about once she decided to not run for re-election in 2010. That would make her a lame duck, she said, something she's not "wired" to be.

"Many just accept that lame duck status, and they hit the road, they draw a paycheck - they kind of milk it. And I'm not going to put Alaskans through that," she said. "I'm determined to take the right path for Alaska, even though it is unconventional, and it's not so comfortable."

(Corrected) She addressed a list of accomplishments from her tenure -- especially a framework for constructing a natural gas pipeline. But she focused just as much on her general political style, of shaking up "politics as usual."

And she used a sports analogy, using the current president's favorite sport, as she spoke of the unrelenting criticism she's faced since being catapulted onto the national stage.

"You are naïve if you do not see a full-court press from the national press picking away right now a good point guard," she said. Talking of herself in the third person, she continued: "She drives through a full-court press, protecting the ball, keeping her head up because she needs to keep her eye on the basket. And she knows exactly when to pass the ball so that the team can win. And that is what I'm doing, keeping our eye on the ball."

She did take one swipe at the Obama administration, as she encouraged others not to be dissuaded from entering politics by her experience today. "We need hardworking, average Americans fighting for what's right, and I will support you because we need you," she siad. "We need those who will respect our Constitution, where government's supposed to serve from the bottom up and not move toward this top-down big government takeover. But rather, will be protectors of individual rights, who also have enough common sense to acknowledge when conditions have drastically changed, and they're willing to call an audible and pass the ball when it's time so the team can win."

In the end, this was a telling line from her remarks today: "Don't explain. Your friends don't need it and your enemies won't believe you anyway."