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Sarah Palin continues stoking the flames of speculation around her possible bid for the White House this weekend as she heads to India and Israel on her first overseas trip this year.

The 2008 Vice Presidential nominee will give a keynote address titled "My Vision of America" to the India Today Conclave on Saturday. The event will explore "The Changing Balance Of Power" around the world. Other speakers include Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and British journalist / author / historian Niall Ferguson.

From there, the Palin camp heads to Israel to meet with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to discuss the future of U.S. alignment with Israel. The country has become a hotspot for rising GOP hopefuls. In recent months, possible Republican presidential contenders Mitt Romney, Haley Barbour and Mike Huckabee have traveled to Israel.

While Palin seeks to improve her image abroad, her legacy as an energy-conscious governor might be in joepardy in her home state of Alaska. The New York Times reported yesterday that major pieces of legislation she enacted while governor are now likely to get the ax from her successor, fellow republican and former lieutenant Sean Parnell.

As governor from 2006 to her abrupt resignation in 2009, Palin enacted state taxes on oil companies that Parnell is pushing to remove to increase state competition.

'Lower taxes means more competitive,� Parnell told NYT last week. �It means more jobs.'

Palin's signature national issue as a Vice Presidential candidate--a 1700-mile natural gas pipeline across the state--may also be given a second look. Since her resignation, nothing has been done to move the project forward and, officials say, they may just nix it completely.

'She made it an issue,' said Mike Chenault, the Republican speaker of the State House, who has sponsored a bill that would end Ms. Palin�s pipeline plan if firm evidence of progress is not documented by this summer. 'That was the way that Alaska was going to move forward. As of yet, we haven�t, in my opinion, moved one step forward.'

When Palin returns, she may have some image work to do here at home if she has her sights set on the White House. That is, if she still wants the job.

Source: The New York Times