I was linked to a bit around the conservative blogosphere back in November when I gave my advice to Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin about what to include in her memoirs (and, I must say, my interest — as a veteran ghost — in writing the book). Apparently, she has now enlisted an agent, Robert Barnett, and is shopping her book concept around.

I hope she will resist the temptation to pen a short term payback book about the campaign and its iniquities. They are many. But a leader doesn’t dwell on these things, and I believe that Palin wants to be a leader for many years to come. Such my-side-of-the-story style narratives also give books a shorter shelf life than a carton of milk. Palin should write a book that still reads fresh in 2012 or even 2016, because that’s when people will be turning to it as they make up their minds about which candidate to support in the next presidential election.

So what should such a memoir include — beyond her own colorful Alaskan story of fishing, beauty pagents, and the joys and rough patches of authentic family life? I, of course, would love to see a little bit on how this ultimate Core Competency Mom does it (Alaska gov is not a part-time job!). But beyond that, she needs to spell out her conservative philosophy: that society should enable and reward hard work, entrepreneurship and strong families. That there is an intellectual case to be made for deferring to traditions of faith and self-reliance. And that the Republican party has often neither made this case nor, it seems, believed it.

I think Palin does believe it. And I think she’s a lot smarter than her many critics will allow themselves to see. Hopefully this book will help establish that truth.